Marlins Musings

Insert Witty Joke about Nats Here

This week the Marlins fought through rain delays, former teammates acting like they had something to prove, their Ace having serious control issues, their rookie starter getting rocked by Adam Dunn, yet when the dust (and rain clouds) cleared, the Fish had themselves a 3 game sweep against the Washington Nati(o)nals.  How?  Thanks mostly to this man:

Hanley continued to carry the Marlins offense, going 8-11 with 7 RBI in the 3 games.  As I am sure everyone knows by now, he became the first SS ever to rack up at least 1 RBI in 10 straight games with his 2-run double yesterday.  Of course, some credit has to go to Coghlan and Bonifacio for getting on base in front of Ramirez.  (I think Boni's splits for the season are roughly a .781 average against the Nats, and .125 average against everyone else).  Regardless, Hanley has been on fire at the plate the last few weeks and now leads the NL with a .345 batting average.  It goes without saying that he deserves the starting nod in the All-Star game, but more importantly, Hanley is a big reason why the Marlins are now just half a game behind the Phillies for first place! (3 games back in the loss column though).

The fact that the Marlins have won 8 of 12 without Kiko Calero in the bullpen and with a closer-by-committee without Calero is amazing enough, and it tells you that they must be getting contributions from everyone else, and save for Jeremy Hermida, they are.

Ricky Nolasco matched Scott Olsen in a great pitchers duel on Monday night, and has now lowered his ERA to 5.99 (hey, considering it was over 9.00 a month ago, that's a big accomplishment).  Although Sean West gave up 5 runs on Tuesday, the offense found a way to claw back in it and take the lead before the rains came.  And even when the Marlins most reliable pitcher just didn't have it yesterday, Badenhop came in and held down the fort, and Pinto promptly sabotaged his effort.  But Cody Ross greeted the new Nati(o)nals reliever Burnett with a game-tying home run, and Wes Helms hit an RBI groundout the following inning to give the Marlins the lead for good.  Nunez pitched a 1-2-3 9th inning (a rarity for the Fish this year) and even though Florida played less than perfect baseball this week, it all added up to a 9-0 record against the Nati(o)nals this season.

Regardless what the Phillies do tonight, at what is in my mind the second major benchmark of the season: 4th of July, which just happens to be the exact halfway point of the year for the Marlins, Florida will be right in the thick of the division race.  The Phillies have just added Rodrigo Lopez (who might be worse than Chan Ho Park) to their rotation, the Mets are free-falling, and the Braves have no offense.  The Fish certainly have their own needs: a consistent everyday RF, a catcher who can actually throw out more than 20% of would-be base stealers, a good 3B, a reliable closer, etc...  But all those flaws really aren't any greater than the needs of the other contenders in the NL East.  We can get into all that as this month moves along and the non-waiver trade deadline approaches, but the Marlins have rebounded from their terrible month of May and put themselves back in the mix of the division race.

Its an off-day for the Fish, so I will be rooting for the Pirates, who currently lead the Mets 5-0 (but hopefully the game will go 20 innings so the Buco's will be worn out for tomorrow's game), and the Braves against the Phillies tonight.  The good thing about the Pirates game today is that Maholm is pitching and despite the Marlins' success against lefties this year, I'm glad he won't be on the hill this weekend.

Ray of Hope....The Nati(o)nals are Back!

There will be no recap of this past weekend series between the Marlins and the Rays.  I am under direct orders from my doctor to not think about any of those 3 games or I will suffer from a severe case of PTSD (post-traumatic-sweep-disorder).  Needless to say, the weekend didn't go very well for the Marlins.

But hope is on the horizon:  The Washington Nati(o)nals are back on town.  When they last left South Florida, the Marlins were in first place, Emilio Bonifacio was playing like an MVP, and the Nati(o)nals were playing....pretty much like they are right now.  So, let's chalk up 3 wins and welcome the Pirates into town for the weekend....

...Not so fast.  Although I am enthused about hopefully watching the Marlins continue to play as well as they have all month (15-11) against one of the worst teams in all of baseball, I am trying to guard against a letdown should the Nati(o)nals actually win 1 (or heaven forbid...2!) games in this series.  Florida is 6-0 against Washington this year, but no one sweeps an entire season series from a divisional opponent, and Washington is long overdue to take one from the Marlins.  Call me crazy, but sometimes I get more worried when I watch my favorite sports teams play a cellar-dweller than when they play the top teams in the league.  I don't know if I just think that they will always take them lightly, or if it has something to do with the 2004 Marlins who I think had 10 straight losses when they played last-place teams (I'm going from memory, but I am almost certain they had a streak like that), or this year's 10-10 tie between the Eagles (yes, I am an Eagles fan) and the Bengals.  Whatever it is, I hope the Fish step on the field tonight with the same intensity they carried over the last 3 weeks through their toughest stretch of the season.  They can ill afford to drop a series here; the Phillies aren't going to keep on losing 7 of 10 and the Marlins must now take advantage of a soft spot in their schedule.

After 6 at home against the Nats and Pirates (who ALWAYS give the Marlins serious fits), they will be in Arizona for 4 (oh, goody.  The last 4 game set with the D-Backs went quite well as I recall...).

Here is the bottom line.  Good teams beat the teams they 'should' beat.  Florida is better than Washington (especially since they won't be facing the Nat's best pitcher: Lannan), and if the Marlins truly view themselves as a contender for the playoffs anything less than taking 2 of 3 from the Nati(o)nals at home would be an embarrassment.  Period.

Tonight, Scott Olsen is making his first start back from his first ever stint on the DL.  If his former teammates really care about his well-being, they should ease him back into the Majors and make sure he doesn't throw too many pitches by getting him out of the game early.  I vote the Marlins score about 6 runs off him by the 4th inning, thus preserving his arm for his future starts!  Trust me Ollie, it's for your own good.

This week's 'Jeff Conine' Award goes to Hanley Ramirez.  Hanley smacked 2 grand slams against the Orioles, hit a HR off Shields to tie Friday night's game, was the only Marlin to get a hit with a runner in scoring position off Price on Sunday, racked up roughly 334 RBI, and made some nifty defensive plays as well.  Basically, Hanley did what Hanley does.

If I were to issue a Jorge Julio award, it would go the Matt Lindstrom, but there's no reason to pile on a guy when he's injured and down is there?  OK, maybe there is, but I'll be nice...this time.

Dear loyal reader(s)

If there are any left....

We here at Marlins Musings apologize for our lack of posts this month.  Between laptop issues, weddings, graduations, birthdays, rain KO-ing my DirecTv, I haven't really had a chance to see too many games (other than a few innings here or there on Gameday), let alone blog about them.  And it really is a shame, as the Marlins are playing some their best ball of the year right now.  They just completed a 9 game stretch against the top 3 teams in the AL East---6 of which were on the road---and won 6 of them.  Dating back even further to the beginning of the month, they are 12-8, all against teams with winning records.  And with the Phillies on a 6 game skid, the Marlins have picked up 5 games on them the past 10 days, trimming their deficit in the division from 8 games to just 3.  And with 6 of their next 9 being home games against the Orioles and Nationals, the Fish really have a chance to finish up this month strong.

This turnaround really started with the last game of the Tampa Bay series, when the starters began throwing quality starts just about every night.  And aside from a few hiccups in Boston and against the Cards, they have continued to keep the Marlins in close games.  The bullpen has seen some improvement also (again, this is all coming from the box scores, so they may be loading bases every inning, but they aren't allowing runs).  Kiko Calero was just placed on the DL, but Pinto was just reinstated on Friday; not that Pinto is nearly as effective has Calero, but more often than not he gets the job done.  My concern with Calero is that he has had a ton of arm issues the last few seasons.  Hopefully this isn't anything serious.

Jeff Conine Award time: The winner of the last two weeks will go to Josh Johnson.  The Marlins won his start against Carpenter, he pitched a complete game victory against the Blue Jays, and then absolutely dominated the Yankees on Saturday night, allowing just 3 hits in 7 innings.  JJ continues to be one of the best pitchers in all of baseball, and deserves serious consideration for the All-Star game.

The game that I did see yesterday prompted this interaction with a friend: (who doesn't know much about the Marlins, but is a fellow Yankee hater and a BoSox fan).

Top 9 I textededed him "Lindstrom can be bad sometimes...."

He called me after Gardner tripled in 2 runs and Damon walked: "What is this pitcher doing?  He's ruining the whole game, the lead runs are on base!  They're gonna blow it, Captain Clutch (Jeter) is up!"

After Jeter grounded out, I replied: "Captain of a sinking ship is more like it!" (that has been our motto all year about Jeter).

It prompted me to add the same caption over a picture of Jeter a Yankee fan has hanging up at work:

6-5 Marlins.  Yankee fans go home

All-Star SS Vote Lead Changes...are these Voters Drunk?

Player A:  .221 BA, .261 OBP, .322 slugging% 3 HR, 18 RBI, 12 BB, 10 SB, 34 R.

Player B:  .322 BA, .401 OBP, .538 slugging%, 8 HR, 26 RBI, 21 BB, 8 SB, 36 R, and hitting almost .400 with RISP.

Who deserves to get more All-Star votes?  Player B....and it isn't even close.

Yet, Jimmy Rollins (player A) has taken over the lead in the all-star balloting over Hanley Ramirez (player B).  I have a few choice words or two for all the @#** who are voting for an undeserving Jimmy Rollins to start in the all-star game.  Rollins is great defensively and has been great player in his career, I respect him a lot, but all-around Hanely is having a MUCH better season.

Just another reason why fans should NOT vote the starters in if the game is going to make a difference in the World Series.  Who would the NL want up in a big spot, someone who is hitting worse than Emilio Bonifacio, or someone with a .401 OBP?  C'mon people.  Hanley still has a month to take his lead back.  Give it to him...he deserves it.  And certainly more than Rollins does.

Fish Lacking Last Year's Bite

If this past weekend's games were played last year, the Marlins may be going to a sweep later this evening.  Instead, they will try to earn a split against the Giants tonight.

The Marlins have dropped 2 of the first 3 to San Fran, and in each loss they had a chance to win the game off the Giants closer, Brian Wilson.  On Friday night with 2 outs, Cantu grounded out with the bases loaded.  Wilson made a good 0-2 off speed pitch on the corner, and Cantu did all he could to make contact, but it was a groundout all the same.  Last night, Gload and Ross (no relation) reached on singles in the ninth inning, and Baker ended the game by swinging at a true pitcher's pitch: one that was above his forehead for strike three.   That final knock-out hit has eluded the Marlins, not just in this series (they loaded the bases 3 times on Friday night, and scored just one run on a De Aza sac fly)  but for the better part of the season as well.  Sure, there have been a few big-time hits: Hermida's home runs against the Nationals, Cantu's game-ender against the Mets, and Gload's winner against the Rays, but for the most part, the Marlins haven't gotten the job done at the plate when they have needed to.

Last season it seemed that the Fish were never out of a game, and when they needed to get the big blast at in the 8th or 9th inning, someone always came through.  Off the top of my head I can think of: Mike Jacobs and Josh Willingham's game ending HR's against the Nationals, Uggla's winning grand slam against the Phillies, Uggla's winning single against the Giants, Ross's shot off Cordero on cow bell night, Uggla's game tying home run off Huston Street, who the Marlins tagged for 2 blown saves in Oakland, Wes Helms getting a game-wining hit, Baker's tying HR off Brian Wilson, Amezaga hitting a winning HR against the Nationals....And I'm sure there are many more that I can't remember right now.

So, the obvious question is....what gives?  Why don't the Marlins have the same late-inning mojo they did last year?  This is, for the most part, the same lineup as 2008, the only changes being Bonifacio and the third OF spot.  I guess the obvious answer would be that hitters make an out at least 7 out of 10 times, so perhaps the law of averages is catching up to them?  That almost sounds like a cop-out but it's the best that I can think of.  I certainly don't know the answer, and it has become maddening to watch the Marlins squander scoring opportunity after scoring opportunity.

Compounding that frustration of watching this lineup falter in a big spot is that lately the Marlins rotation has shown why many scouts before the season said it was the best in NL East.  Since May 24th, Florida's ERA is among the best in the Majors and stands under 3.00.  Their record in that span?  8-6.  Now, that number is a little deceiving as there have been a few games lost due to the unearned runs allowed, such as yesterday's game when Bonifacio threw a ball over Gload's head on a routine ground ball. (I am completely over Bonifacio now.  He had his 15 minutes of fame in the first week of the season, and I could live with his .242 average if he were playing gold-glove defense.  But since he now has 11 errors, it's time for a new plan....say, De Aza if LF and Coghlan at 3B?)  The starters and the bullpen have done a fantastic job the last 2 weeks, but even though the Marlins are 5th in the NL with 266 runs scored, they are lacking the timely hits that they need to produce more wins.  Hopefully that will change, soon, and Florida can start turning stellar pitching efforts into something other a ND or an L.

This weeks 'Jeff Conine Award' goes to the one and only Hopper:  Burke Badenhop.  Mr. Badenhop has been an invaluable asset to the Marlins this year, both as a starter and reliever, and this week he pitched a combined 7.1 innings of 1-run ball in relief of Anibal Sanchez and Andrew Miller (the Marlins won both games).  JJ's win over the Brewers--thanks mostly to his 3-run homer to dead center field--certainly earned him consideration, but I like to give some love to the role players too.

Tonight Randy Johnson, looking for win #301, will pitch on 3 days rest against Sean West, who is still looking for his first win despite posting a decent ERA of 3.31 in his first 3 starts.  Winning tonight would be nice, (of course winning every night would be nice) especially with Chris Carpenter looming for tomorrow night.  Florida is 4-3 on the current homestand.  I said I wanted them to go 8-3 on it and get back to .500, I still do, but I would take 7-4 right now.  Go Fish (and get a freaking hit with RISP will ya?!)

I'll See your Julio and Raise you a Penn

There have been some brutal pitching performances on display in LandShark Stadium this week.  2 days after Jorge Julio ruined the Brewer's night, Hayden Penn matched him and put the Marlins so far behind the 8 ball it was ridiculous.  Yea, maybe it wasn't all Penn's fault, as West wasn't sharp (pitching only 4.1 innings) and the Marlins committed 2 errors in the inning, but Penn's job in long relief of the starter was to:

1. Throw strikes (he walked 4 of the 6 batters he faced and went to a 2-ball count on the sixth one before being lifted for Sanches)

2. Not allow the inherited runners to score (both did via walks, and he left with the bases loaded)

3. Limit the damage as much as he could if he did allow some runs (he walked the bottom of order...including the pitcher with the bases loaded)

4. Soak up some innings since the effective long relief man just went 5 innings the night before (he recorded 1 whole out)

Although Sanches came in and allowed all 3 of Penn's runners he inherited to cross the plate, thanks in part to Bonifacio's defense, this loss was not his fault.  In fact, the loss should fall more on Penn's shoulders than West's.  Penn entered the game with a 3-1 deficit, and when the smoke cleared it was 9-1 .

Yet despite trailing 9-1, the Marlins mustered a rally of their own, scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the fifth and loading the bases for Uggla when they were down 9-5.  But then Seth McClung came to the rescue for the Brewers as he struck Uggla out to end the 5th inning, and that was that.

In the big picture though, I was glad to see Penn fail so miserably last night, as I figured it would spell the end of his tenure as a Marlin.  I don't like to see anybody lose their job, but Hayden never really deserved the one he had this year to begin with.  Not that I didn't see this coming, I just don't know how the front office couldn't as well.

So indeed, Penn was designated for assignment, and here comes that oh-crap-we-better-win-today-or-else-we-split-after-looking-so-good-the-first-two-games finale.  (I hate 4 game series)  It will be a rematch as JJ will go against Dave Bush.  Those two pitched in the series finale in Milwaukee as well, with the Brewers earning a comeback win.  JJ had a bit of a shoulder issue that day that he attributed to pitching in the thin air of Colorado the start before.  It would be foolhardy to expect Johnson to either pitch only 4 innings or walk 5 again tomorrow.  It should be a low-scoring affair and hopefully the Marlins can come out on the long end of it.  Taking 3 of 4 from a first place team would be a good start to the homestand.

His Name is....DAN UGGLA!

Unless you routinely watch the Marlins telecasts, you probably have no idea what the title of this blog means.  Back in 2006 when the little-known second baseman was hitting over .300 and clubbing home runs, Rich and Tommy (the Marlins TV play-by-play and analyst duo) were trying to encourage fans to vote Uggla into the all-star game.  So every time he hit a home run, they said "His name is...DAN UGGLA!"  After that, it just kinda stuck as their routine call whenever Uggla jacked one over the fence.  And last night his 2-run shot in the second inning was the 100th of his career; It came in his 502nd game, making him the fastest second baseman to hit 100 home runs in the history of Major League Baseball.  Don't let that statement slip by you, folks.  That is no small feat, there are over 100 years worth of second baseman on that list, and Uggla is at the top. (it really shocked me that Utley, who is a great hitter and plays in a great hitters ballpark, not a pitcher's one like Uggla does, wasn't second, Soriano, or third, Joe Gordon, on that list.)

Congratulations Mr. Uggla!

I'm sure that one stalker-ish woman I met in Citizens Bank Park 3 years ago is celebrating, along with all the other Marlins fans, but this woman was NUTS.  I met her along the dugout while getting autographs before a Marlins-Phillies double-header, and she was holding a statue of an owl (but that wasn't as scary as her friend who was wearing a Reggie Abercrombie jersey...YIKES!).  I asked her what the owl was for and she told me it's what 'Uggla' means in "whatever language she said" and she wanted to give Uggla the owl because she liked him so much.  Apparently, she had tried to give it to him earlier in the year when they played in Baltimore also, but to no avail, so she followed the Fish to Philly.  I never saw her again after batting practice was over, but it was one of the strangest encounters I have ever had in a baseball stadium.  And that's a true story.

Anyway, back to last night's game.  Sanchez was effective, but not efficient.  He threw 40 pitches in a scoreless first inning, and allowed 1 run on 2 hits, with 3 K and 3 BB in three total innings.  He was lifted after 71 pitches because the Marlins wanted to ease him back into the rotation, and Burke Badenhop dominated the game from there.  The Hopper went 5 innings and yielded just 1 hit and 1 walk.  Hayden Penn polished off the ninth, allowing his usual 2 runs and 3 hits, but with a 10-1 lead, the Marlins could afford to use him.  I really don't know why he is still on the team, but that's another story.

Ross belted a grand slam as well, Brett Carroll got 2 hits(!), Hanley extended his 3-hit game streak to 3, all in all it was probably the best all-around game the Marlins have played all year.  The Marlins are now 2-0 on the homestand and have won 4 of 6 overall. I would love for them to win the series against the Brewers, who are still in first place; The problem is this is a 4 game series, and if the Marlins lose tonight it becomes an oh-crap-we'd-better-win-this-game-or-else-we-split-after-looking-so-good-the-first-two-games finale.  4 game sets are tough to win, but if West can continue to pitch well (2.25 ERA in his first 2 starts) the Fish just may pull it off.  He will be opposed by former Marlin Braden Looper, who the Marlins scored 5 runs off of in their first meeting.

And in case you forgot...his name is...DAN UGGLA!

The More Things Change, the More they Stay the Same

I was going to start out this post by diving right into last night's game, but first I must clarify something that was said about the Marlins on Sportscenter earlier this morning...

ESPN was doing an in-depth look at Adrian Gonzalez's stats, and afterwards one of their reporters was talking about how he is the most underrated player in the league. (He might be, and maybe if your network would stop gushing over anyone who plays for the Yankees, Mets or Red Sox, and actually paid attention to every team, he might not be).  Then he said that this is Gonzalez's third team, and asked "How could the Marlins or Rangers let him get away?"  How the Rangers did is a legitimate question.  Why did the Marlins get rid of him?  Oh, let's see... in the summer of 2003 when the Marlins were in the thick of the pennant race, they traded a top-shelf prospect (Gonzalez, who was a number 1 draft pick) along with two other AA players to Texas for someone named Ugueth Urbrina.  Remember him?  He eventually took the closer role away from Looper, and we was a main reason why the Marlins won the Wild Card.  It forced them to stay away from pitchers like Nate Bump in the late innings, and vastly improved their bullpen in the process.  Urbina also saved game 1 of the World Series in Yankee Stadium that year.  So how did the Marlins let Gonzalez get away?  They received a World Championship ring in return.  Any fan would take that, thank you very much.

So, onto last night's game.  Andrew Miller didn't quite live up to the precedent the starters have been setting recently, as he was lifted in the 5th inning and allowed 4 runs--3 earned--(2 via bases loaded walks to the 8th hitter and the pitcher).  Cristhian Martinez came in from the bullpen, who saved the game by not allowing another run, received the win, and was then optioned back to the minor leagues.  But, the real story from last night's game was Jorge 'Hurricane' Julio.

Julio has been bad for some teams in the past, but nothing can compare to the train-wreck he was when he donned a Marlins uniform.  Unless you are a Fish fan, you can't comprehend what it felt like to watch Julio implode on the mound in Miami against the Marlins.  But, I will try to put his numbers in perspective to help you understand:

Julio pitched in 10 games for the Marlins in 2007, amassing a total of 9.1IP.  He allowed 18 H (2 HR, including a grand slam to Nationals when he entered the game with a 3-run lead), 14 runs, walked 11, and struck out just 6 (I think they were all pitchers).  That amounted to a grand total of 0 saves, 0 wins, 2 losses, 4 blown saves, and a 12.54 ERA.  Now do you see why I called him Hurricane Julio?  My motto back then was that he was the biggest disaster to hit South Florida since Hurricane Andrew.  And he returned last night, to the delight of every Marlins fan alive.

With the Marlins trailing 4-2, Cody Ross singled up the middle, Brett Hayes was hit by a Julio pitch, Coghlan walked, Bonifacio reached on an error by Prince Fielder, Hanley smacked an infield single, and Cantu was hit by another pitch.  Yep, 3 runs on 2 hits, a walk, and 2 players hit by a pitch.  Not much has changed, I see Mr. Julio.  In fact, it even prompted Marlins TV analyst Tommy Hutton the say "Now I remember, Jorge Julio!"  You can see everything unfold here.  I could watch it all day myself, and never get tired of it.  It was great to see the Marlins dish out some payback to Julio.  Not to be vindictive or anything but....

HAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA.  Hope to see you in each of the next three games Jorge!

7-4 Marlins, against the Brewers, a first place team no less!  Sanchez returns tonight.  I would expect Badenhop to be on call early.

The Mets Make Me (and themselves) Sick

What a weekend in New York for the Marlins.  Each game featured at least one quality start, some less than quality umpiring, and about 23 bottles of Pepto Bismol.  There was some nasty stomach virus circulating around Citi Field (apparently they forgot to sterilize the brand-new $900 million facility) that infected at least three players.  Carlos Beltran left the Saturday game early, JJ managed to pitch through it, and John Maine had his start on Sunday cut short due to the illness.  Now, a cheap-shot artist would somehow find a way to make a joke along the lines of: at least the Mets were doing something other than choking for once but I'm not going to go there...

What made me even sicker was the umpire's call on Friday night on the liner to Center early in the game that Beltran trapped...and it was ruled a catch.  I don't recall who hit it, but I DO remember that the Fish would have loaded the bases with only 1 out had the play been called correctly.  I don't like to repeatedly get on the umpires, because usually that means that you are searching for excuses to justify a tough loss, but when the calls keep mounting in the other teams favor, they become impossible to ignore.  One positive on Friday was the stellar effort of Sean West.  He allowed just an Omir Santos home run through 7 innings, and got a key strike-out of Beltran when he needed it.  Too bad Pelfrey picked that night to finally toss a good game against the Marlins.  Oh, and to Ronny Paulino:  I can see now why no one really wanted you to be their catcher in Spring Training; Your defense in pathetic.  It's bad enough that a major league catcher allows about 98.2% of the steal attempts against him to be successful, but when you throw the ball into the outfield and put the winning run at third base with only one out....you really need to learn another position.  Did I mention that the winning run who stole second was also a 40 year old?!

All that aside, if the Marlins can continue to string strong starts together like they did over the entire 3-3 road trip (in which no starter allowed more than 3 earned runs), they should be OK moving forward.  Some other notes:

I really like Coghlan in the lead-off spot, because he is not afraid to take a close pitch.  Now, if they could somehow move Baker or even Hermida (I still don't really like him, but he is producing right now) up to #2 and bat Boni 7th or 8th the Marlins would have 2 patient hitters who will work the count and take a few walks hitting in front of Hanley and Cantu.  Yes, that would put 2 lefty's in a row at the top, but wasn't that what Pierre and Castillo were most of the time anyway?

Bonifacio had a decent 2 days hitting second, as he smoked 2 doubles on Saturday, then walked and had an RBI single off Putz on Sunday, but I don't think that will last.  I look at Saturday's game from the other angle: If Tim Redding is allowing Bonifacio to pull ropes down the right-field line, his pitching career is in serious trouble.  And the Marlins seem to have Putz's number, as they have scored 4 runs off him this year.  But, it seems that Fredi likes Boni in the 2-hole, and he is going to be there for a while, so no sense complaining about it.

On Sunday, despite all the bloopers the Mets hit that fell in for singles and doubles and the line-outs the Fish had (like Uggla's double that was a foot from being a HR, and Cantu hitting the ball as hard as humanly possible right to Wright for a double play with a man on third in the middle innings) they still had the tying run at third with one out in the 8th inning.  Parnell struck Cantu out, and then got Hermida to fly out.  That was just a tough loss, and despite all the bad breaks, the Marlins had a chance to tie the game right there.  I just tip my cap to Parnell, and realize that Cantu can't get a hit every time up, after all he was robbed twice, so I can't get on him for whiffing there.

Memorial Day in my mind is the first time you can really look at the standings and try to draw some conclusions about your teams chances for the season.  Here we are the week after it, and the Marlins sit 6.5 games out of first place and 5 games under .500.  Oddly enough, the Marlins are one of the 7 NL teams to be .500 or better on the road (14-14) yet they are 9-14 at home.  If they can maintain that .500 pace on the road and start to play better at home, they have a chance to climb up in the standings.

An 11 game homestand awaits, with the Brewers, Giants and Cardinals coming to town.  An 8-3 homestand would move the Marlins back to .500 before they go on the road for 6 games against the AL East.  Now is it fair to expect that given the way that the Marlins played in May?  Heck no, especially since they will be playing quality teams;  But when you consider that when they hit the road 12 of their next 15 will be against the Blue Jays, Red Sox, Yankees and Rays, the Marlins MUST take advantage of this long homestand.  One game at a time, but unless the Fish can manage to win about 17-18 games this month, they could be staring a looooong summer in the face.  Back when this core group was 11-31 in 2006 they started to get an a roll in June and won 20 out of 24 at one point.  To duplicate that run would be a little extreme, but unless the Fish can string a few good weeks together (and they were 4-3 last week) soon, it may time to call the season quits by the All-Star Break.  I'm not trying to be Mr. Doom and Gloom, just being honest.

The 'Jeff Conine Award' this week goes to the entire starting pitching staff.  From 5/24 to 5/31 (7 games) they totaled 45.2 IP, 15 ER, 15 BB, 30K; An average of 6.2 IP, 2.95 ERA, and a 2:1 K:BB ratio.  And that was against the highest scoring offense in the AL, the Phillies and the Mets.  Obviously, there's a lot to like about that.  Now, just keep it up guys.....

I apologize for any typo's, I'm under time constraints and the spell check is being a little wacky today, like telling me that 'outfield' isn't a word, but grouping the two words longhomestand together is.

Edit:  Hanley Ramirez is now first in the All-Star SS ballot, overtaking JJ Hardy (are you serious?) and just in front of Jimmy Rollins.  People, vote Hanley.  Although Rollins is about 800% better defensively than Ramirez, his OBP is lower than Bonifacio's.  And Hardy... please.  Not to take anything away from him, but if it's between Ramirez and Hardy, there is no argument that Hanley deserves the nod.  Anyone who isn't voting for Ramirez isn't paying attention.

Badenhop, You're My Hero!

The Marlins beat the Phillies 6-2 last night to take the series in Citizen's Bank Park.  If you would have told me on Monday that over the next three days Badenhop allow the fewest runs of any Marlins' starter and the Fish would score more runs without Hanley in the lineup than with him in it in...I would have called you crazy.

Crazy.

Badenhop made his first start of the year, not quite an 'emergency' start so much as a 'we've exhausted all of our other possibilities' start.  But give Burke credit, he made the most of it!  After he Induced a double-play grounder from the MVP of the first 2 months (Ibanez), he settled down and allowed just a Ruiz solo home run over 5 innings.  Way to go Badenhop!

The Marlins pounded Myers, hitting 2 home runs and 2 doubles off him.  Myers has been an extra-base hit waiting to happen all year, and it was good to see the Fish take advantage of him.  He apparently had some minor injury issue he was dealing with, so maybe that was a reason for his poor performance; regardless the Marlins did what they needed to do against Brett, and held on when the Phillies loaded the bases loaded in the 9th.  Oh, Lindstrom never makes it easy, does he?

I didn't see any of this game (I did follow it on gameday though) but there was one event that happened in the top of the ninth that was an inexcusable offense and needs to be addressed:

Bonifacio missed a squeeze sign with Helms coming home from third, and Helms was caught in a rundown.

Imagine that Rollins actually jacked a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth to tie game and the Phillies went on to win...Bonifacio wouldn't have gotten off the hook then.  Even though that didn't happen, I'm going to keep him on it.

I have tried my best to stand by Boni through his struggles this year.  But after an 0-5 game last night the Marlins lead-off man now sports an OB% of .286.  No, that's not his batting average, that's his on-base percentage.  I'm sorry, but a .286 OB% wouldn't qualify him to bat lead-off for my nephew's tee-ball league.  And if you aren't getting on base enough to really help the team, you MUST execute a squeeze play...or at the very least offer at the ball to protect the runner!  Yes, the pitch was a ball, but Helms doesn't know that, Bonifacio!  I understand he must have missed the sign and it could happen to anyone....but if you aren't carrying your weight to begin with, failing at a fundamental part of the game is not the way to put yourself in good graces with the manager, your teammates, or the fans.  If Hanley is good to go over the weekend, I advocate benching Emilio for at least 2 games.  Something has to be done to get Boni's attention and let him know that unless he picks it up, he isn't going to play.  We are almost in June and you are not going to win a lot of games if your leadoff man in getting on base less than 29% of the time.

So...on to New York!  Let the Pelfrey pounding parade begin!  The Fish absolutely owned Pelfrey last season as I stated in my last blog, but what the hey, let's put the numbers up again shall we?  Mike was 0-4 with a 7.11 ERA against the Marlins in 2008.  You wouldn't want Sean West going up against anyone else!  At least the Marlins should provide him with some run support.  And then the Fish have the pitching advantage in the other 2 games in the series, as JJ will go against Maine, and Volstad will probably go against Redding.  The Mets could throw Hernandez, or even Santana on three days rest if they wanted to on Sunday, but I would think it would be Redding.  Either way, New York is banged up all over the place, and I would take my chances with Volstad against either of those guys with the state of the Mets lineup right now.  Plus, the Marlins are 2-0 in the games Santana has started this season, so they should be confident no matter who New York throws.  It's never proper to expect a sweep of anyone, especially on the road, but the Marlins should at least be able to take 2 of 3 in New York.  The Mets are really short-handed without Reyes, Delgado, and maybe even Beltran, and the pitching match-ups look pretty promising.  The key will be Sean West's start.  If he can go 6 innings, keep the Marlins in the game and not force the bullpen to pitch an exorbanent amount of innings, it could be a really good weekend;  And a 4-2 road trip against the 2 top dogs in the East would be a nice rebound from the abysmal homestand.

The Time to Worry was 5 Days ago

Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post.  (that's what 1 holiday weekend will do, I guess).  For the sake of 'blog integrity' let's go series by series since my last entry so I can indicate how I really felt before the Marlins mini 2-game win streak started.

The Arizona Diamondbacks series.  I really would like to not to recall anything that happened during those dreadful 4 games, as all I get are flashbacks of Justin Upton hitting 3-run bombs, Hayden Penn sucking at life, blown leads in every game, and the Marlins stranding leadoff runners in extra inning after extra inning (after extra inning, after extra inning, after extra innzzzzz....).  And then the one player who nearly willed the team to victory on his own in the one game he started was sent back down to the minors the very next day!  In the night/early morning cap of the double-header, Alejandro De Aza was 3-6 with 3 runs scored and 2 RBI.  I fully understood the need to get more arms up from the minors for the weekend, but designating Hayden Penn for assignment would have been a better move than optioning De Aza, especially with Amezaga still ailing with his knee injury.  But, alas, when the dust, rain, and my headache cleared, the last-place-in-a-terrible-division D-Back's emerged victorious in a 4 game series in Land Shark Stadium.  Losing 3 of 4 at home to a team that is going nowhere this season was enough cause for concern on its own...but I took greater issue with some of the things said after the games than the games themselves.

"They're a Major League team over there, and they made plays. I'm just proud of the way we kept coming back. We battled and battled.  I'm going to call this one: We didn't lose the game. We just ran out of outs. I'm real proud of the way we came back."~ Fredi Gonzalez after the 11-9 loss in 13 innings.

What? Are you kidding me?  Proud of the way you kept coming back?  What game were you watching Mr. Gonzalez?  That was the same game where your team led 4-0 and 7-4.  Who was the one that kept coming back?  Ok, De Aza doubled to lead off the 12th and scored the tying run then, but that was the only time the Fish had to come back all night.  Other than that, it was Penn, and a bullpen that was overworked more than a sweatshop that blew the leads.

You just ran out of outs?  What kind of message does that send to the team?  "Geez guys, if we only had about 67 more outs to go, we could have finally gotten that runner in from third.  Let's ask Mr. Selig if he will give us a few more next time."

And then, it got worse.

Andrew Miller (who has actually looked pretty good since coming off the DL) tossed 7 innings of 2-run ball on a night that the Marlins NEEDED him to go deep into the game.  So after Miller stepped up and delivered when the team needed him the most, Cristhian Martinez promptly served a meatball up to Mark Reynolds, and the Marlins lost yet again.  What was Mr. Gonzalez's reaction?

"It was a good thing to see Cristhian come up and compete."

Compete?  Compete?  The objective is to win.   Win against a last-place team in front of your home fans.  Win a series before the defending AL Champs come into town.  WIN!  To quote Herm Edwards:  "You play to WIN the game.  You don't play to just play it!"  Even Joe Girardi used to say (paraphrased) "Just because people don't know who you are doesn't mean you can't win.  It just means they don't know who you are.  Our goal is to win series and make the playoffs."

Now let me say, I am not one of these nuts that is crying for Fredi's head.  It's not all his fault that John Koronka, Hayden Penn and Graham Taylor had to start games this year.  Nor is it his fault that Maybin wasn't ready to play everyday yet and the roster has had to be pieced together over the last few weeks since he was sent down.  Fredi did lead this team to a winning record last year; But his messages during the D-Backs series were a little curious.  If the man who is supposed to be leading your team is putting out the vibe that it's OK to lose some games when you held 2 healthy leads against an inferior opponent, what exactly does he want the players to think?  Is that going to light a fire under them and encourage them to start playing better?  I would think not.  I'm not saying he needs to start throwing bases or publicly berate his players, but a greater sense of urgency would be nice to see.

So...onto the weekend series against the Rays.  Nolasco started on Friday and....ohhhh boy.  8 runs later he found himself in a New Orleans Zephyr uniform.  I don't really know what is wrong with Ricky.  I'm no coach, but his pitches look just as good as they did last year, he isn't walking anybody, he is still striking people out...he just has been giving up a ton of hits.  Hopefully 2 or 3 weeks in the minors will help him correct whatever is wrong with him and he can get back soon.  This team needs him, and he is nowhere near as bad as he has shown so far this season.

Saturday featured another first-round draft pick making his big-league debut: Sean West.  Again, I didn't see any of the game, but 5 innings and 2 runs isn't that bad for your first start.  Especially against the defending AL champs, and when you compare it to the start of say...Graham Taylor.  But in the end the lead was given right back after the Marlins tied the game, and it was another loss.

Sunday was a win for a change, but when it caps off a 3-7 homestand, whoopty-freaking-doo.

Which brings us to last night's game.  The Marlins exorcised the Moyer demon and beat the old man for the second time in his last three starts against them.  I can understand why a few Phillies fans would complain about the Helms 3-run home run, because he could have been called out on strikes the pitch just before the blast, it was borderline, but not exaclty down the middle of the plate.  To them, I would say that the Marlins have been hosed on calls from the umpires this entire month (even earlier in the game, because Helms beat out Rollins' throw in the first inning, but was called out) so they were due for a break.  Volstad pitched like he has all year long (and he actually got a win for a change!) and Paulino added to his lefty-killer reputation with an insurance RBI off Moyer in the 6th.  Even though the Marlins made Chan Ho Park look like Cy Young, it didn't matter as they held on for a 5-3 win in the first game of a critical road trip.

By the way...what was Victorino thinking by running with the tying run at the plate and no one out in the 9th inning?  That was just a bad baseball play from a very good baseball player.  I was shocked.  Even though Paulino has had his issues throwing runners out this year, it was still too huge of a risk to take with Stairs up as the tying run.  That changed the whole complexion of the inning after he was thrown out, and Lindstrom settled down to record the save.  Also, kudos to Dan Meyer.  You cannot underscore how important that groundout he got from Utley in the 7th inning was.

As far as the 'Jeff Conine' Award this week...let's go with Billy the Marlin.  Since the Fish have only averaged one win the last two weeks, no one really deserves any kind of award.

If the Marlins have any designs of hanging in this division race and not getting buried before June, they must win at least one (preferably both) series on this trip through New York and Philly.  The good news is they won't exactly see great starting pitching from either team, as Blanton has been pretty bad so far and they usually hit Myers pretty well.  Against the Mets (who the Fish are 4-2 against so far), the Marlins ALWAYS pound Pelfrey, as he was 0-4 with a 7.11 ERA against them last year, they are 1-1 in games Maine has started this year, and Tim Redding doesn't strike fear into the hearts of many.  Of course, the Fish have some pitching questions of their own, but I would take my chances on any 6 game trip against those two teams when they won't face either Santana or Hamels.  1-0 so far.  Hey, it's a start.

Rain, Rain, GO AWAY

The Marlins did just about everything right last night.  Chris Coghlan hit his first career triple, Cantu plated him with an RBI single, and Ricky Nolasco was back to being a strike-out machine.

Then the rain came...and washed all that away.

Coghlan's triple, gone.  Another Cantu RBI, gone.  Nolasco's shutout bid, gone.  And more importantly, the Marlins lead was erased.

What made it worse was the fact that the game was called with 1 out in the 4th inning.  All the Fish needed were 5 more defensive outs for the game to become official.  But with the way things have been going lately, it just figured that the sky opened up when the Marlins had a lead.  I'd be willing to bet that if the Diamondbacks had a lead last night that the sun would have come out, dried up the field, then rain would have started in the 6th inning and the game would have been an official Arizona win.

So, there will be a double-header on Wednesday starting at...5:10?  Odd start time.  3 or 4 would have made more sense, unless the goal will be to be playing in front of 3000 people around midnight toward the end of the second game.  The rainout will screw up the Marlins rotation for the rest of the series, but it will mess with the D'backs' as well, so I guess that's just a wash (cheesy pun unintended).  I still want to see the Fish take 3 of 4, even if the players need to wear poncho's over their uniforms to get through these games.

Let's try this again guys.  Once more with feeling.

Browsing the Baseball Prospectus glossary, I came across the PAP (pitchers abuse points).  Here is my opinion of what the definition of 'Pitchers Abuse Points' should be:

Anytime a pitcher is guilty of 'abusing' another human being or an inanimate object on or near a baseball field (i.e. a batter, a teammate, a Gatorade cooler), they shall be given 1 PAP for each abusive act committed.  Points will be (at the MLB Commissioner's discretion) doubled, tripled, or multiplied by a number you couldn't possibly comprehend (depending on the offense) if they go after an unsuspecting and defenseless subject (i.e. Randall Simon's attack of the Sausage in the sausage race, Pedro Martinez throwing Zimmer to the ground).  The all-time leader in PAP is believed to be Roger Clemens, as he received 15 PAP for throwing the broken bat at Mike Piazza in the 2000 World Series.  Although the purpose of PAP is not yet known (though they have been linked to suspensions) it is believed in some baseball circles that they are merely used for bragging rights in the locker room to say things like "I have a career PAP of 123.  I am waaaay more bad*ss than you."

Marlins Musings Mathematics

Since I started blogging last April, I have read many, many, many other baseball blogs.  I was quite naive to the 'blogosphere' at the time.  One constant I see in many other fans blogs are these odd, quirky stats I think are half made-up just to fill a post.  Things like 'Isolated Power' Batting-average-of-balls-put-in-play BABPIP to those in the know, I guess?  Adjusted ERA, so on and so forth.

Well, I've decided that if anyone else feels the need to escape these numbers, I will give you a safe haven to go to.  I prefer to look at baseball as a game, and not some convoluted algebraic equation where solving for the greater OPS gives your team a better chance of winning.  So after each of my next posts (or until I run out of ideas) I will post my own version of baseball numbers--only ones that actually make sense.

TSSOP- Third-Strike-Strike-Out-Percentage.  The TSSOP of each player shall always equal 100%, as every strike-out, be it looking or swinging, will occur when the batter has accumulated 3 strikes on himself.  Thus, a player can greatly decrease their propensity to strike-out if they end their at-bat with less than 3 strikes on them.  The TSSOP is directly reflexive of and should never be confused with the TWSSOP (two strike strike out percentage) as 0% of all strike-outs occur on the batter's second strike.

Take that, Baseball Prospectus.

The Weekend Series Between:

Marlins and Dodgers  Angels and Demons

Since the blockbuster movie 'Angels and Demons' came out this past weekend (and it is quite entertaining) I figured I'd pay a little tribute to it with a recap of the last series against the Dodgers.  Here's how it works:  I'll pick out a few players/umpires who had a positive or negative impact on the outcome of the game (from a Marlins standpoint of course) and put their picture next to either a demon or an angel.  I know it has nothing to do with the movie, but you wouldn't appreciate me spoiling it for you, now would you?

Friday Night

The Marlins blew their 3rd three run lead in the last four days, and with a little help from first base umpire Ed Rapuano, the Dodgers held on for a 6-4 win.

For those who haven't seen or heard yet, (I only saw the highlights, but they were pretty clear that Rapuano was wrong) Uggla was trying to bunt the tying run to second base in the 8th inning, and was hit by the pitch.  After home plate ump Joe West awarded first base to Uggla, Joe Torre asked for an appeal, and Rapuano overturned West's ruling and sent Uggla back to home plate, ruling that Uggla didn't pull the bat back.  Fredi popped out of the dugout to argue and was ejected.  Uggla struck out a few pitches later and yelled at Rapuano.  Then in the top of the ninth, Bonifacio legged out an infield hit--or so he thought--but Rapuano ruled him out at first.  I have yet to see a video of that play, but all the reports I read on it indicated that Boni did indeed beat out the throw.  That was crucial because the next two Marlins walked, and they might have had the bases loaded with no one out...But it's a moot point now.  I just can't believe that this week alone the Marlins had everything happen with Rapuano, an overturned home run (though that was the correct call) etc...they just CANNOT catch a break.  Meanwhile, the Mets won 2 games when Beltran scored from third base in the ninth inning after he stole third both times--but he was OUT on both attempts, yet ruled safe.  I'm sure the calls will even out over the course of the season, but it is highly annoying when a division rival is winning games due to bad calls, and your favorite team isn't being given any help from the umpires.

Saturday Night

Let's start off with this:

I could not watch ANY of the Marlins game because it was not shown on MLB Extra Innings.  It is actually a pretty rare occasion for me to not have any obligations on a Saturday night and it figured that on the first free one I had in a while, the game wasn't shown on the baseball package.  I knew that because it started at 6:00 the first hour was going to be blacked out because of FOX's 4-7 exclusive window, and it wasn't televised at all in Florida, but they couldn't have joined it in progress with the Dodgers feed?  Really Directv?  Really?  I was quite upset over this for a few minutes, but then moved on to other plans, like going to see Angels and Demons (which did inspire the concept of this blog, so I guess in a roundabout away it was a good thing?)

Andrew Miller got the win (no, that isn't a typo) and Matt Lindstrom saved the 6-3 lead.  So:

Take a screen shot, because you shouldn't expect to see anything like that on a regular basis.

Sunday Afternoon

I was determined to catch every pitch of this game.  I hadn't seen a Marlins game since last Monday night, so I was ready!  I turned the phone off, shut the blinds, locked the doors, turned my computer off, I didn't even want an incoming e-mail to interrupt the game....

2 Koronka throwing errors and a homerun from the Dodgers backup shortstop later, it was 6-0 in the third inning.   So much for that.  Cody Ross broke up Kershaw's no-hit bid in the eighth, then later hit one the most meaningless grand-slams you will ever see.  But it was a good game for Ross, and hopefully he is running into another one of his hot streaks.

There was some good and bad to come out of this game however.  The good: John Kornonka will never again pitch for the Marlins as they designated him for assignment after the game.  Thank God, because if your team is relying on Koronka to win big rubber games against good teams more than once in the season, you are going to have a loooong year.  Good riddance.  So the angels and demons from yesterday are:

So as you can tell from the pictures, it was a pretty crappy day all-around for the Fish.  I couldn't find a picture of Hayen Penn as a Marlin, so the of his as an Oriole will have to do.

Hayden Penn pitched 2.1 scoreless innings yesterday, striking out 5.  So why is there a demon next to him you ask?

Because I think the Marlins will give him a start to replace Koronka this weekend against the Rays based on his performance yesterday.  That is NOT a good thing.  Hayden Penn was always a starter when he pitched for the Orioles; All you need to know about how (in)effective he was for them (other than his horrific HR/IP [15:75] ratio that I have already documented) is that his 5 strike-outs yesterday were a new career HIGH for him.  Granted, he didn't pitch too many games for the Orioles, but still.  5 punch-outs is a career best performance?  YIKES!!!  I think Penn's act yesterday, and he was good, was a complete aberration and should be taken as such.  Throwing him out there against the defending AL Champs who have a powerful lineup would NOT be advisable.  We shall see, but I would prefer either Badenhop or another minor-leaguer over Penn.

In other news, the Marlins have recalled Alejandro De Aza back to the team!  Anyone who reads this blog knows I am a De Aza fan and would like to see him get a chance to play regularly.  Although he is probably only going to be here until Amezaga's knee heals, but I hope he plays well when he is given the chance.

As far as the 'Jeff Conine Award' this week, even though I should give it to Andrew Miller because he was the only Marlin to record a win in the last 7 days, it's going to Ramirez for the second week in a row.  I need to see more than 5 innings from Miller before I can call him the player of the week.  Hanley had a hit in every game of the week (and so did Bonifacio) until yesterday when he had his 13 game hitting streak snapped.  Ramirez is the only Marlins regular who is hitting over .300 (.343).  Time to get the bats going guys...

So now the Diamondbacks will be in 'Land Shark' Stadium for 4 games.  The Marlins need to start winning series again, and if they can't take 3 of 4 against the 14-23 last place Diamondbacks at home...then it will be time to start worrying.  It's one thing to lose 2 of 3 to the best team in the league with one close loss being helped out a lot from bad calls by an umpire, but if they drop 3 of 4 to a struggling Arizona team that has its best pitcher on the DL and has already fired its manager, then serious evaluations and changes will have to be made.  I don't expect that to happen.  If the Fish are 4-3 on this homestand when they welcome the Rays over Memorial day weekend, I will be OK with that.  It all starts tonight with Nolasco, who like the rest of the team, needs to get back on track and start winning.

P.S.  Go see Angels and Demons.  It's a great movie!

Marlins Musings LIVE(ish) 5/14/09

1:21

It's OK with me that Hanley and Cantu struck out with Coghlan on second base.  Scoring in the first inning didn't work the first two games of this series, so it's good to see them shaking things up.

1:26

Gload is starting in RF.  Nice to see Hermida riding the pine today.

1:31

JJ works around a leadoff walk, good to see.

Usually when you hear someone say that they are hitting what they weigh, that's a bad thing.  In Fielder's case, he would win the MVP...

1:36

Let's wait until Uggla goes 19-36 in a week before we say he's coming out of his slump.  One double is nice, but calm down Rich and Tommy...

1:39

Uggla scoes on a wild pitch!!!  Whooo!  Now let's see if they can HOLD the lead

1:46

Are our pitchers allergic to holding leads?  When Josh Johnson is serving up 2-run bombs, there is a SERIOUS problem

2:00

Wow, this ump gave a wide strike zone to Bush last inning, then totally squeezed JJ to start the 3rd inning off.  All we ask for from an ump is consistency.  This one today hasn't been

2:01

The second walk to Hardy was legit...C'mon JJ!

2:04

What should have been a 5-5-3 double play turned into an out at third and then 2 overthrows resulting in a run scoring.

I feel nauseous.

2:07

Redemption for JJ as he gets that 5-5-3 double play.

Need the bats to wake up!

2:11

Hanley leads off the inning with a double.  Someone needs to drive him in.

2:13

Giveth and taketh!  Hanley scores on a Brewers error.

2:25

2 outs and one on in the 4th, and JJ walks the FREAKING PITCHER?!  He needs to get Weeks now....

And he did.  Whew.

The Marlins 2 runs today scored on a wild pitch and an error.  It would be nice to see them string 3 hits together and tie this game up

2:30

Or Gload could just tie it with a home run!  And no replay this time!

2:36

I like Bonifacio's aggressiveness there with 2 outs, but if Porter was had the stop sign up, he should have stopped.  It took a good throw to get him at the plate, but Hanley was on deck.  I'll have to see if Porter was waving him home....I don't know.  Coghlan's ball wasn't hit that hard.....

It's one of those plays where if he made it he would have been praised if Boni had scored, but he will be crucified since he was thrown out.  I'm not going to go nuts, but I would always like to see Hanley up with 2 on and 2 out than leading off the inning with no men on base.

2:46

Badenhop in for JJ.  Curious move, since Fredi usually lets the starters go longer in the games than he should sometimes.  Gonzalez must be feeling the urgency to get a win here.  Johnson wasn't himself today.  It happens.

I hate Prince Fielder

3:05

Flipping around the dial and some good news:  The Marlins won't see Billingsley this weekend, he is starting for the Dodgers against the Phillies today.

Brewers add a run on.  Not feeling good about this

3:13

Hermida 'struck out' looking, when he really was thrown 5 balls.  This ump has been terrible all day.

But then again, since he called the first 2 balls off the plates strikes, Hermida had to protect and not take there.

3:21

Nice 1-2-3 inning for Meyer.  Fish have Boni, Coghlan, Ramirez due up.  This is the inning to rally.

3:29

Websters Dictionary does not define a rally as a 1-2-3 inning.

3:38

Hoffman on the way in.  His ERA is 0.00

He is overdue to give up a few runs and blow a save, right?

3:43

Booooooo!

So this is what .500 feels like

I tried to find a clip of the Family Guy episode where the family goes to purgatory, which I think captures the whole .500 feeling, but to no avail.

The Marlins record currently stands at 17-17.  A nice symmetricaly even (odd) number on both sides of the win and loss columns.

Truth be told that on April 5th, if you would have told me that the Marlins would be 17-17 after playing 21 of their first 34 games on the road against some tough teams, I would have been OK with that.

Not after they were 11-1, and 6-16 since.

Some games the Marlins will hit well, like tonight, and then the starter who won 15 games last year will give up 8 runs in 4.2 innings.  Of course, it didn't help that Hayden Penn was called on to relieve him and let both runners he inherited to score.  Since Proctor is going to be out for the entire season now, when Miller is taken off the DL and since the Fish are determined to give Koronka another shot at starting, Penn NEEDS TO GO.  By and large the bullpen has done a great job this year, and Penn now has the highest ERA of all the relievers.  Heck, even Matt Lindstrom (who hasn't given up a run since that Philly disaster) has lowered his to 5.54.  Penn's is now 6.60.  I was never for bringing him here, and even though he had a few decent outings early on, it's easy to see why he fell out of favor with the Orioles.

Then there have been numerous nights where the Marlins starters will pitch brilliantly, particularly when JJ and Volstad are on the mound, and the offense will sleepwalk through the game.

The Fish just can't seem to get everything to click at once right now.  All you need to know is that Bonifacio, who seemed to be the key to the offense early on, has 4 hits in the last 2 games and the Marlins have lost both of them.  Good things usually happen when he gets on base, but even when he has lately it hasn't really helped.

It's late, so to wrap up this post, here are some random, uncensored views about this team:

They have blown 3-0 leads two games in a row.

How much longer until the Marlins either play Carroll more, call up Mike Stanton or De Aza and get Hermida the hell out of here?  He defense is flat-out AWFUL and he isn't hitting (not that he ever really has in his time here, save for his first at-bat or one half of 2007).  From what I understand he could have caught Week's triple and one of the bloop RBI hits the Brewers had tonight if he had hustled.  I think we are all being reminded why Fredi benched him down the stretch last year.

I still believe Nolasco will turn it around.  Ricky got pounded by the Braves in a game in May last year then got going from there.  Call me foolish, but I'm not giving up on him yet.

Uggla....I'm not as confident in.  But we still need to give him more time.

The thought of Miller and Koronka on back-to-back days scares the c^*p out of me.

Instant replay overturned Gload's 2-run homer, the Fish lost by 2...I know the ball was foul but they just cannot catch a break right now.

Helms had an RBI single when he PH for Baker in the 7th inning with 2 on and 2 out.  I know he produced a hit, and no disrespect to Helms, but I knew Fredi wouldn't let Baker hit there. (I thought he would put Paulino in)  Once, just once, can we see Baker get a chance to hit in a spot like that?  He is the best hitter in the lineup right now next to Hanley and Cantu and I think he has earned the right to stay in the game for a big at-bat in the late innings.

Not to beat a dead horse, but David Wright made another error today.  Anyone still think he is a legit Gold-Glover?

The Marlins (believe it or not) can split the road trip at 3-3 with a win in about 12 hours.  I plan on doing a live blog during the game, so stop on by if you are interested!  JJ will be on the mound against Dave Bush;  A battle of pitchers whose lineups haven't done them many favors as it will be 3-0 vs. 1-0.  Expect a 2-2 game in the ninth inning.

Let the Coghlan Era Begin...

First off, a happy belated Mother's Day to all it applies to!

I do apologize for the lack of posts over the weekend.  I was only able to watch about 4-5 innings total of the series win in Colorado.  But a whole lot has happened with the Fish these last three days, so let's get to it!

Where to begin?  Well, my first thought when I saw Chris Coghlan at second base on Friday was "Oh God, are the Marlins really benching Uggla?  Is he hurt?  What happened?"  Then that fear quickly dissipated when the friendly fans over at FishStripes explained he was just spelling Uggla, and Rich and Tommy actually talked about something other than sweater vests and said that Coghlan would likely play Left Field in the coming days.  Whew!  We all know Uggla isn't doing much right now, whether he is lining out to someone 2 times a game or not, but Dan is capable of catching fire at any moment.  Uggla carried the Marlins through May and June last year and I'm certain an extended hot streak is coming.  He may not get his average up to the .320 range like he did last year for a while, but at the end of the year he will have his 25-30 home runs.  But of course, the sooner he gets going, the better.

So Coghlan will move to Left Field, sliding Hermida back to Right Field and putting Cody in Center.  A few thoughts on that:

So much for that excuse: "We like Hermida in Left because it gives us a righty throwing from that spot and a lefty like Cody throwing from Right Field."  The translation here was:  "We thought we could maybe hide Hermida's defensive flaws by putting him in Left because there is less ground to cover and because, well, he just plain sucked in Right Field.  Can you blame us?"  I have said this before and I will say it again:  Hermida was one of the worst defensive Right Fielders I have ever seen.  EVER.  Now, I do like his patient approach at the plate and there is no question he has offensive talent, but that is only half of the game.  And to me doesn't matter where you put a player in the field, if they are a poor defender you cannot hide them.  Just ask the Brewers with Bill Hall and Ryan Braun, the Mets with Daniel Murphy, and we all remember Miggie don't we?   I am by no means calling Hermida a failure at the big-league level yet...not even close.  Just stating a fact.  If he can get going at the plate and start swinging like he was the first few weeks of the year, his below average glove will become more tolerable.  That's just how it is.  Jeremy moving over to Right really isn't that big of a deal to me.  Whether they believed it or not, I can't blame the front office for saying what they did in Spring Training, and maybe they truly thought the switch would make a difference, but obviously, it didn't.

How good is Coghlan in the outfield?  Well, according to Baseball Reference.com he played a whopping 1 game in Left Field in his 3+ years in the minors...and didn't get the ball hit to him at all since he had no put-outs or attempts.  I would imagine that since he was a second baseman that he has decent speed, and since he played third that his arm is OK as well.  I didn't see him that much over the weekend so I will withhold an opinion until I see him in action.  However, he certainly has impressive minor league numbers at the plate: .298 batting, .388 OB%, 77 doubles, and he never struck out more than he walked in a season.  Now there is no way to tell if those numbers will directly translate to the Majors, but he did everything he needed to do to get the call-up.  One thing is for sure, he will play mostly every day now because....

Maybin was sent down to AAA.  It is pretty obvious that he needs more time to refine his swing and approach at the plate.  I wasn't a big fan of batting him 8th to begin the season, but Maybin wasn't ready to hit second either.  So the trip to the minors should serve him well.  He seems to have the right attitude about it: "I've some things I've got to work on....and I'm going to try to get back as fast as possible."  I would imagine at this point now that Maybin won't be much more than a September call-up this season, but you never know.  Regardless, he is still going to be a big part of this team in the future seasons to come.

Ross in Center Field is just fine with me.  He has good range and a great arm.  Enough said.

Amidst all the winds of change, one thing stayed consistent this week: Hanley Ramirez.  He earned himself the 'Jeff Conine Award' as he hit .556 this week with 4 home runs and 3 stolen bases.  Now if only he, Baker and Cantu could get some help from the other guys in the lineup maybe the Fish could score more than 3 runs (which they have only done 3 times in the last 9 games).

An off-day today, then a three game set with the Brewers.  John Koronka will start Tuesday's game.  I'm trying not to think about his career ERA of 6.02, and .298 BAA.  Instead I will look at this page and see a nice tidy 0.00 ERA to comfort myself.  The Brewers are playing good ball right now and it will not be easy to beat them in their park.  But I will always take my chances with Nolasco and JJ on back-to-back days.  If the Fish could steal the first game with Koronka on the mound, it has the potential be a very good road trip.

By the way....I usually try not to look too far ahead, but the Dodgers will be playing the Marlins this weekend...anyone else doing jumping jacks because Manny will not be in the lineup when they arrive?  Thanks Ramirez!

Marlins Swept by Braves, Lose Sanchez to Injury

Remember when the Marlins were 11-1 and looking down at the rest of the NL?  Remember when JJ out-pitched Santana on Easter Sunday?  All those good feelings that us Fish fans had at the beginning of the season have been flushed out and replaced with doubt and angst.  At least they have been for me.

Florida concluded a 1-3 homestand with a 4-2 loss the Braves this afternoon.  Can't say I was surprised that the Marlins lost today since the Braves had the 'other' JJ (Jair Jurrjens) on the mound, and he is one of the best young pitchers in the League.  I didn't really catch much of the Marlins this week (and thank goodness for that) but I did see today's game.  What bothered me faaaar more than the loss itself was watching Anibal Sanchez walk off the mound and into the locker room with an apparent injury to his right shoulder---the same one he just had surgery on last year.  I'm not going to speculate on what the injury is or how much time Sanchez will need to recover, but this is not good news.  I'm hoping that it is something similar to what Lindstrom went through in Spring Training, but I think only an extreme optimist would believe that right now.  You could tell just by the look on Anibal's face as he walked toward the dugout that he was devastated.  Not a good sign.

I really feel for Sanchez.  I know he didn't pitch that well in most of his starts in April, but he worked very hard to get back on the mound.  Here was a pitcher who came up halfway through the season in 2006 and won 10 games and threw a no-hitter.  Then he suffered an injury in 2007 and tragically lost his child on the same date he no-hit the Diamondbacks a year later.  He returned in July of last year, and seemed to be healthy and poised to pitch his first full season in 2009.  Sanchez had Tommy John Surgery while he was in the Red Sox minor league system as well, so he has already endured more rehab and physical therapy than most people at his age (25).  If he has to suffer another setback and be forced to miss significant time again....wow.  I can't imagine what he must be thinking while he awaits the results from his upcoming X-Ray and MRI.  Talk about someone being dealt a bad hand.  One look at him said it all:

 

This photo was thanks to the Miami Herald

As I said before, although Sanchez hadn't pitched that well to date, we all know he has a lot of talent.  He is still young and can hopefully overcome this injury, whether it is serious or not, and become the pitcher we all envisioned him to be.  Stay tuned Marlins fans, and hope and pray for the best.

As far as today's game goes, to anyone who wants to get on Hanley for striking out with 2 men on and 2 out in the 8th inning, I don't even want to hear it!  Ramirez was the entire Florida offense today; he hit two home runs, one of which gave the Marlins the lead.  He cannot get a hit every time up at bat.  Someone other than Hanley and Cantu needs to step up.  As the saying goes "even the best hitters make an out 7 out of 10 times."  It cannot continually be left to them to provide all the offense.  The entire outfield has a pitiful batting average right now, and no one other than Baker is even hitting close to .300 (aside from Hanley and Cantu).  A trip to Coors Field in the thin air of Colorado should hopefully help cure the offensive woes, if only for one weekend.  But I'll take it.

It's that time again....Friday Pick 'em Challenge presented by the Mc Effect blog

Although I had 10 wins last week, they only marked me down for 7, but I would imagine that will be corrected.  And even if it isn't, it's not like I have money on it like I did on the number 27 in roulette (one day, we will recount that story, though I doubt anyone would believe it).

Anywho, here are this week's winners!:

American League:

Yankees

Indians

Rays

Mariners

White sox

Royals

Blue Jays

National League

Pirates

Phillies

Cardinals

Brewers

Astros

Marlins (time to step it up Nolasco)

Nationals

Dodgers

See What Happens When You Put the Ball in Play...

The Marlins front office preached it in the off-season, Fredi Gonzalez talked about it all Spring, Jim Presley still trys to impose it on the team: Cut down of the strike-outs, just put the ball in play with runners in scoring position.

Well at least for one night and one batter that mode of thinking paid off.

Despite striking out an obscene amount of times last night (15, though 9 were against Harang who is a good pitcher and the game did go 5 extra innings) Jorge Cantu hit a hard shot to the Reds first baseman with 2 runners on in the 14th inning.  Sure, in most cases it would have been a double play, and Hanley was juuuuuust a bit out of the baseline when he slid hard into second base (or the vicinity thereof), but the throw to first sailed wide and Paulino chugged home to score the winning run.

If Cantu would have struck out, the Reds never would have had a chance to throw the ball away.  Not the typical game-ending hit for sure, but it got the job done.  And in the bottom of the 14th, it was just as good as a three-run homer if you ask me.

I'm not saying that you should expect the other team to make an error every time you need a hit in a big spot.  But the Reds were tempting fate in the latter innings all night.  Cantu was up in the ninth with the bags loaded and flied out, Ross was up in the 13th with the bases loaded again and grounded out, and finally Cantu ended it.  It was encouraging to see the Fish put the bat on the ball in each of those at-bats.  A line drive to the outfield would have looked prettier, but an error by the opponent looks a zillion times better than a strike-out.

So, does this mean that the Marlins are going to change their approach and stop swinging and missing at a record pace?  Probably not.  But maybe, just maybe what happened last night will stick in their heads, especially when they have an opportunity late in the game.  Hopefully.

Random notes:

Bonifacio was 3-7 last night

The Marlins FINALLY threw out a baserunner trying to steal second

JJ was outstanding again should be 4-0 right now, poor guy.  Score some runs for him!

I'm really not so sure why a lot of Marlins fans don't like Pinto.  He pitched another scoreless inning last night, lowering his ERA to 1.54.  I know he has a tendency to be wild, but he almost never gets hit hard---for his career he has given up 37 less H than IP.  He wore down the end of last year because he was used so often by Fredi the first few months of the season.  He would certainly be a risky option to come in with the bases loaded, but Pinto is more good than bad most of the time.

Well earned win for Badenhop.  He pitched 3 scoreless innings and rebounded nicely from his last performance in Wrigley.

So the Marlins will go for a sweep in this mini-series tonight.  Volquez vs. Volstad, should be another low-scoring affair.

Marlins drop 3 in Wrigley; What is up with Nolasco?

A promising start to the road trip ended in disaster as the Fish lost the last three games of their series with the Cubs, finishing the trip with a 3-4 record.  Taking two of three from the Mets is always good, but to losing a 4 game series after you win the first game and hold a 5-2 lead in the 6th inning of the second one is a little tough to swallow;  Especially because Graham Taylor outpitched Rich Harden, how often can you expect that to happen?  If you get a performance like that, you HAVE to win that game.

So, add it all up and the Marlins return home with a half-game lead over the Phillies for first place and for a quick cup of coffee with the Reds and Braves, only to hit the road again for another 6 games.  I know that eventually the schedule will even out---Florida has homestands of ten and eleven games coming up in the next five weeks---but all these road trips are a little ridiculous.  Speaking of which: I was reading an article on MLB.com the other day about how the Dodgers were happy to finally have a homestand longer than 6 games.  They played 16 of their first 25 games on the road, the Marlins played 16 of their first 25 on the road...So I will assume that after this upcoming trip to Milwaukee and Colorado that there will be a similar article on the Fish being happy to finally settle in at home for awhile?  (Don't hold your breath)

I wasn't able to catch much of the series over the weekend, but I did see most of Sunday's game.  I was looking forward to the Nolasco vs. Big Z pitching duel, and it was just that until the bottom of the 5th inning.  We all know by now that Nolasco allowed 6 runs, 4 via the grand slam, and he has an ugly Oliver Perez-esque ERA over 7.00 right now that compliments his 1-3 record.  So I think that after five starts it is a legitimate question to ask "What is wrong with him?"  Ricky certainly isn't pitching like the Nolasco who went 15-8 with an ERA under 4.00 last year...or is he?

As of May 3rd 2008: 1-3, 6.10 ERA

As of May 3rd 2009: 1-3, 7.03 ERA.

Nolasco began last year as a long-relief man, so you can't really compare the IP or H allowed between the two seasons to this point, but he did start off slowly last year too.  Sometimes, pitchers just do, CC Sabathia being the most recent example.  He was lit up almost every single night he pitched in April and May last year, yet he went on to win the Cy Young.  Not saying that Nolasco is CC, but sometimes pitchers just get better as the season wears on.

Nolasco is still holding his superb K/BB ratio (3:1) he had last year, and yesterday wasn't all his fault.  Before Lee hit the grand slam, the Cubs loaded the bases on 2 bunt singles and an error on Gload in Right Field.  At that point, Ricky had to throw strikes to Lee, just credit Derrick with doing what a good hitter is supposed to do in that spot.  I'm not trying to make excuses for Nolasco, but some of his high numbers right now can be justified.  Three of his 5 runs opening day came on a 3-run bomb by Adam Dunn (who hits a ton of home runs), he lost 2 starts to the Mets, a team he historically has had fits against, and as I mentioned, yesterday he was a victim of his own defense.

All that said, if the Marlins are going to have any designs of staying in first place and contending this year, Nolasco needs to start figuring things out and pitching better.  I believe that he will...I just can't see what he did from June on last season as a fluke.  He has 4 great pitches, he throws in the lower-mid 90s, he still has his good control, I don't know what is missing, but at some point things should start to level off.  His next start will be in Colorado, certainly no pitchers haven, but it would be nice to see Nolasco go out and win that game against what is currently a 9-14 team.  If he intends on being the same pitcher he was the second half of last year, Ricky had better get in gear.  Soon.

As far as the 'Jeff Conine Award' this week, it was a tough call between Cantu (for obvious reasons) and Amezaga (for all his great defense he played filling in for Ramirez).  Upon further review, re-counts, the whole thing, Jorge Cantu is this week's winner.  He clubbed 4 home runs and posted 14 RBI this week!  Alfredo's play on Thursday night certainly saved the game in the ninth inning, but Cantu had a monster week and I don't believe the Marlins would have won either of the two games they did in NY without him.  He also made a number of tremendous diving stops at first base that saved at least 4 runs that I can think of, so congratulations to Cantu!

Jo (han) Santana, I gotcha wins right here!

The Marlins polished off (aka held on for dear life against) the Mets Wednesday afternoon to claim their second straight victory and first series win in over a week.  I really don't understand what all the hoopla is about this Santana guy, he didn't seem to be much of an obstacle to the Fish this month.  Santana, shmantana...

Ok, so maybe I am exaggerating just a tad about that, but I view what the Marlins did this month against the Mets as a huge accomplishment.  They went 4-2 against NY, winning both rubber games against Santana in the process.  Although today Putz was tagged with the loss, I will take that as an encouraging sign also.  All we heard before the season began was how the Mets would be invincible with a lead in the 8th inning thanks to Putz and K-Rod.  Well, now the Fish have not only gotten to Mets ace, but they have defeated their super set-up man as well.  If the Marlins weren't in the Mets heads already after what they did to them the past two Septembers, they certainly must be now.  Florida has beaten two-thirds of that great trio, and K-Rod has yet to have a real save opportunity against them.  More on this game later, first let's talk about Citi Field.

I promise we will post some pictures from the game, but right now I am having issues with my Kodak software.  They will come in due time

First off, to anyone who had gone through the arduous task of parking at Shea, let me tell you that zoo no longer exists.  That ONE parking lot with only ONE entrance/exit is a distant memory.  Though there aren't as many lots are there are around Citizens Bank Park, there is more than enough ample parking space with multiple exits to the highway now.  Dare I say it was quick and painless to enter an exit the Citi Field complex?  Yes.

I really, really, really wanted to explore the rotunda area, but I arrived too close to the first pitch to do so.  Our seats were in the upper deck, about halfway between home plate and third base.  Thankfully, our view wasn't obstructed at all (I had read that section 521 had some seats that were blocked by the stair railings, but row 12 was well above those) and I have to say, for the upper deck, they were fairly close to the field.  Certainly high up, but not far away by any means, certainly closer than the Yankees last stadium.  I didn't feel cheated at all.  And for what it's worth, the fans were rather polite.  There was one who was a bit annoying, as he said "The Marlins have fans?  What are you, dressed up for Halloween or something?"  Then he added that he was 'only kidding.'  But since he had a 'Yankees Suck' jersey (I will post that pic too!) I forgave him anyway.

After the game, I explored the team store (I felt like I was breaking my own moral code by setting foot in there, but my girlfriend's brother-in-law is a Mets fan, so I really had no choice) and their food-court area which is located behind the seats and cut-off from the view of the field.  To those of you who have ever been to the PNC Bank Arts Center, it kinda has the same feel as their food court.  The action is still close enough where you can hear it, but even though the area is enclosed, it is all outside and open to the sky.  Another nice feature inside the stadium:  If you go inside to grab something to eat, use the restroom etc, the hallways all have an open view of the field.  You don't have to try to squint to see a small TV in the distance to keep track of what is going on.  I guess that is expected to be how all of the newer stadiums are built, but it is still a nice upgrade.

OK, so now to action on the field.

Nolasco apparently didn't hear me say that I wanted to see a starter NOT give up a run in the first inning, as he served up the 2-run triple to Sheffield.  Cantu really stepped up with Hanley out of the lineup and kept the Marlins in the game with his 2-run shot off Hernandez, and later won it on his 3-run bomb off Green.  I was a little surprised that Manuel stuck with Green as long as he did and didn't bring in Feliciano to face Baker before the Cantu home run.  When Stokes came into the game the next inning, the scoreboard flashed a stat that he was unscored upon in all his appearances this year!  Kinda made me wonder why the Mets left Green out to dry, but I'm not complaining!

I really wanted to see Bonifacio have a chance to run during the game, and I got my wish when he stole third base.  He was running toward my direction, and man is something is watch live!  After that, Cantu's HR almost had a *yawn* quality to it.

As far as today goes, as I said earlier, it was great to see the Marlins fight back and score the winning runs off the premier 8th inning man in the League.  I am starting to believe that Cody Ross, thanks mainly to all the big hits he has had for the Fish---and not just against the Mets, though he has had his share of those including today's 2-run single off Putz---is one of the fan favorite's on the team next to Hanley.  Maybe it's just me, but I think that if you asked all the Marlins fans you could who their favorite player was, that right now Ross would finish second to Ramirez.  Lindstrom did his best Kevin Gregg impression by loading the bases in the ninth without allowing a hit, but he wiggled out of it to record his second save of the series.  I have no clue why the Mets were allowed to take so long to insert Santos as a pinch-hitter, he clearly wasn't ready; though I'm not sure why they didn't just leave Castro in since was 2-4 with and RBI, but again, I'm not complaining!  (Chew on that, all you I-hate-Fredi-Gonzalez Marlins fans.  No manager is perfect.  And to all those Bonifacio haters that are constantly posting on the Marlins official website: Emilio had 5 hits in the series and raised his average to .281.  Just saying...)

And speaking of Mr. Gregg, the Marlins will see him this weekend (hopefully all four games, if know what I mean!) as they will play 4 in Wrigley Field against the Cubs.  The one pitcher the Marlins won't see in the series will be Ryan Dempster, which is good news since he was almost unbeatable at home last year.  I'm looking for a split here.  Winning a 4 game series on the road is a lot to ask, and a 4-3 road trip is good enough.  Anything better would be awesome, but that will be tough unless Taylor pitches much better this weekend.

Also, with the Phillies loss on Wednesday night (thanks Olsen!) and April ending tomorrow, the Marlins have been in first place for the entire first month of the season.  That's a good start!

In addition:

Here are my picks for the Friday Pick 'em Challege on the Mc Effect blog.  With my 27 wins through 3 weeks, I sit just 2 games off the pace in third place.  Any and all are welcome to join, so just click and go if you are interested!  Here are today's winners:

National League:

Cubs over Marlins (I just can't see Graham beating Harden)

Pirates over Reds

Mets over Phillies

Cardinals over Nationals

Astros over Braves

D-Backs over Brewers

Padres over Dodgers

Giants over Rockies

American League:

Angels over Yankees

Tigers over Indians

Blue Jays over Orioles

Rays over Red Sox

White Sox over Rangers

Twins over Royals

A's over Mariners

Injury to Insult

So I was out and about tonight and heard the Marlins score their first run of the game on the car radio.  I leave my car shortly after and it was still 1-0.  I returned home about 8:30, flipped on SNY, and I see the Mets have a 6-1 lead!

Where does it end right now?  How can this last week get any worse for the Marlins?  Oh, that's right, I heard Ramirez left the game when Maine beaned him on the wrist.  So not only were the Fish in a 5 run hole, but their best hitter was out of the lineup.  No chance to come back.  So did I watch the rest of game?  Of course I did.  I am a die-hard fan, I live to watch these games; but I gotta say they are becoming less and less enjoyable.  The #8 hitter who is a backup catcher for the Mets hits a grand slam, 7 straight losses now, the precious 5 game lead in the East has all but melted away, from a baseball standpoint, can this night get any worse than that?

The answer is YES

Joel Hanrahan (why is he still the closer for that team?) just served up a grand slam and the Phillies beat the Nationals 13-11, pulling them even in the loss column with the Marlins.

2 hits by the Marlins tonight against a less than impressive pitching staff.  At least Bonifacio had one of them.  Good thing too that Cantu is back and healthy if Ramirez needs to sit a few days.  Can you imagine a 3-4 of Helms and Gload?  Ugh.

Well, there is only one way to break this losing skid: a personal visit from yours truly where I will give the team a thorough tongue-thrashing (as if they will hear me from the upper deck).  But we will see.  If I have to fend off traffic over 2 bridges, 3 interstates, and about 34,000+ of the worst fans in the world, I'd better see the Marlins win!

In all seriousness, I would be just as delighted to see them play live, even if they lose 16-0.  But by no means do I want that to happen!  Here is record of the Fish in the stadiums I have seen them in:

Pro Player: 1-0

Yankee Stadium: 0-1

the biggest dump in the world  Shea Stadium: 1-2

Citizens Bank Park: 1-3 (includes a double-header sweep)

So a grand total of 2-6 isn't a great track record, but hey just like the Marlins losing streak, that just means that we are both due for a win!

I will try to post some pictures from the game on Wednesday, hopefully while JJ is beating Santana again!  But first, the Marlins need Nolasco to overcome his Mets demons and pitch well tomorrow night.  Let's go Florida.

Anyone else think that Anibal Sanchez should have buzzed Maine back?  I'm sure he didn't hit Hanley on purpose, but this is the Big Leagues.  If you are going to bean the best player on the opposing team, you deserve to get some chin music.  If you don't like it, don't injure the other team's superstar.  I am by no means advocating Sanchez HITTING Maine, but just throwing one up and in, knocking him off the plate, and then returning to business as usual.  Maybe that kind of play just doesn't happen anymore, but if Hanley has to miss the next two games of this series, the Mets sure won't feel sorry for him or the Marlins.

0-for PA. On to NY

The still first place Marlins hit the road for seven games, starting tonight with a three game series in Citi Field against the I-just-lost-to-the-Nationals-Mets.  I believe that all the Marlins need to get back to their winning ways is a change of scenery.  No more teams from Pennsylvania (who they were 0-6 against last week) for a while!

This upcoming series will feature the same exact pitching matchups as the last one against those beloved Mets: Sanchez vs. Maine, Nolasco vs. Hernandez and JJ vs. Santana.  Obviously, the Marlins have the starting pitching edge in the first two games, and the series finale should be another great pitching duel.  Something will have to give here, as the Fish have lost 6 in a row but the Mets starters who aren't named Santana have a combined ERA of close to 8.00.

I did discover one position where the Marlins and Mets are equal: Left Field.  They each have a patient left-hand hitting left fielder with a ton of offensive talent.  And those same two players (Hermida and Murphy) will duke it out all year for the Iron Glove award.  Overall this year Hermida has made the routine plays, but yesterday he was atrocious.  Murphy is just plain bad all-around in the field.  One thing is for sure: Whenever a ball is hit to left these next three days, fans of each team (and pitchers alike) will hold their collective breaths.

I suppose I should address some of the flaws the Marlins showed this last week. (I'm not much for transitions today, so just follow along with me. My mind is jumping from one topic to another)  Mainly Third Base and Center Field.  We all know how the bullpen pitched this weekend, that is no secret.  But if there are two spots that need to be examined, it is the 'hot' corner and CF.

Emilio Bonifacio is in a major funk right now.  His average has plummeted to .270.  Now, that is still a very respectable major league average, but considering it was close to .400 about 10 days ago it seems that he is 0-for-his-last-120.  I can't really say much about how he looked at the plate against the Phillies because he didn't play in yesterday's game and I missed the first two, yet I really thought he was starting to look better at the dish in Pittsburgh.  He was taking walks, working counts, he really seemed to know what he was doing.  I understand he also walked to lead off the game against Myers on Friday, so I don't really know what went wrong.  I will say this about him:  If anyone thought Bonifacio was going to hit .400 this year, they had to really be kidding themselves.  I said before the season began that as long as he could hold a .280ish average and a .340 on base%, I would be happy.  Right now his on-base in .308, but I think it will rise as the season continues.  He has shown flashes of what he can do in the first 10 games or so.  He has the potential to be a destructive force on the bases and run all over the diamond.  He has also played fairly well in the field, and remember he is still learning the position.  I think Bonifacio will be just fine.  Just be patient Marlins fans.

Maybin is another story.  He just looks lost and overmatched at the plate right now.  I was a little concerned before the season started that he would have a tough time being patient hitting the 8th spot in the order, as pitchers usually throw as many junky breaking balls as they can because the pitcher is on deck.  And Maybin has not shown any form of discipline in laying off those bad pitches, and is striking out on balls that no one would have a prayer of hitting.  Now he has played a good center field, though I understand he had a hiccup over the weekend; I usually don't mind a .230-.240 hitter in the 8th spot as long as they play good defense (someone like Alex Gonzalez, and used to strike out a ton as well).  But Mayin is only hitting .189 right now and it's not like he is hitting the ball hard at people or hitting the other way.  He just looks like he isn't ready to hit in the Majors at this point.  His approach is terrible.  He is still only 22 and has plenty of time to learn and grow, but I honestly think that the Marlins should look elsewhere for a Center Fielder right now.  Someone like...Alejandro De Aza perhaps?  He is currently hitting .267 with just 9 strike-outs in 17 games for New Orleans (AAA).  I'm usually not an advocate of shaking things up 20 games into the season, but as I said Maybin just looks completely overmatched.  I don't know how much longer the Marlins intend to stay with him if he continues to play like this, and Brett Carroll is not an everyday player.  I think De Aza should be the fill-in if Maybin has to be sent down to the minors this year.  Just a thought.

Even with the issues the Marlins have with those two players, they still must approach this trip with the mindset of winning four of seven.  5-2 would be great, but the Cubs are a very tough draw.  A 4-3 trip should be enough to right the ship.

This week's 'Jeff Conine Award' (which we are having issues changing, so just take my word for it) goes to Leo Nunez.  Why?  Because he was the only pitcher this week to record a win for the Fish, that's why.  He also received a hold in Saturday night's game, which is downright laughable.  He entered the game to save it, put runners on the corners, Pinto came in and retired the next batter on a ground-out, Nunez's runner scored, and Pinto got charged with the blown save while Nunez got credit for a hold?  Anyone else find a little humor in that?  Oh, gotta love those unofficial baseball stats.  If anyone knows what 'Isolated Power' is, could you let me know?

Marlins Musings LIVE(ish) 4/26/09

The Florida Marlins will try to avoid a sweep before they hit the road again for 7 games in New York and Chicago.

We here at Marlins Musings apologize for any delay in posts due to laziness, the throwing of random inanimate objects after (if) the Phillies score, etc...

12:05

Not a fan of waiting those extra five minutes for the first pitch

12:09

Rollins has the day off.  Thank you Mr. Manuel

12:14

Two bases on balls to start the game.  Grrr....  So much for the control he has.

12:19

Tough luck on the popup by Howard.  It was a good pitch, but that's the result when you walk the first two batters

12:26

Taylor with his first major league K to end the inning.  4 walks in the inning, 2 scored.  It was good to see Hanley trying to settle Taylor down by talking to him. That's the sign of a leader.  Also, Penn was the first reliever to get up in the pen.  I would rather see Badenhop first...

12:34

Moyer hasn't changed a bit.  Ibanez just robbed Hanley of a double.  Taylor...at least get the pitcher out

12:37

Moyer hit by the pitch.  I didn't mean injure Moyer out of the game Taylor, I meant at the plate.

12:40

Great catch by Ross.  But now Utley...

12:41

I love the defensive shift!

12:47

Another freaking SMASH right at a Phillie.  Guess Mr. Moyer has been around long enough to court lady luck.  If Cantu is hitting balls the other way, you KNOW the Marlins are changing their approach against him.

12:52

Taylor with a leadoff K.  Why are the Marlins always losing when they are on National TV?  I didn't even know they were on TBS until Rich and Tommy said so.  Two out.  Hopefully Taylor is settling down.

12:57

Paulino the lefty killer with a hit!  Let's go Ross!

1:00

Back to back hits.  Let's see how Taylor can bunt.  Not too thrilled with Maybin hitting next though....

1:02

Not a good bunt attempt....I sense a DP here...

1:05

Saved from a DP by Maybin's speed.  Hermida, let's go...

1:07

I didn't mean go back to dugout.  Phillies only have one hit...wildly effective I guess is the new Taylor scouting report?

1:10

A hit by Moyer....the first solid one the Phillies had.  Howard's was a popup.  Two outs.  Dare I say that Taylor has calmed down?

1:14

Good to see that Hermida's change to left field really helped his defense...

1:18

Taylor's day is done after 3 2/3.  That's what happens when you walk too many and allow the pitcher to reach base twice.  Let's just hope that Badenhop can keep the game close.

1:23

Good work by the Hopper!  Memo to offense: NEED SOME RUNS!

1:25

My how I loathe first pitch swinging...HAN-LEY!!!!!

1:27

In case you were wondering, the Phillies are winning 4-0 right now.  I figure you all know the score, but you know, in case you were living under a rock.  Base hit by Uggla!  Two on again, with Paulino to follow.  Helms with a long shot for an out.  Paulino, let's go!

1:32

Booooooooo!

1:39

Another good inning by the Hopper.  Hop! Hop! Hop!

1:42

Hit for Ross!  Leadoff man on.  NEED TO GET HIM HOME.  Moyer only at 66 pitches...grrr....

1:43

Good hustle by Ross on the bad bunt!  Two men on.  Maybin, for love of God, NO DP!

1:45

Maybin looks overmatched.

1:47

Horrible call for strike 3 on Hermida.  Absolutely horrible.  I know Maybin got a freebie, but he made an out.  That was inexcusable

1:50

Clutch hit by Hanley.  Good to see him not go for the home run!  4-1.

1:53

Ibanez.  I hate you.  ANTOHER SHOT BY CANTU THAT WAS CAUGHT!

2:02

Hopper looking good.  Moyer's pitch count in the mid 80s.  I'd like to see the Fish KO him this inning with men on base...

2:14

I don't agree with Carroll PH here.  Amezaga or Gload are better options

2:15

Terrible move by Fredi.  Don't give me this lefty-righty matchup stuff.  Carroll cannot hit at all, Amezaga has faced Moyer before, Gload is a high-contact hitter, and now Carroll cannot replace Hermida in the field unless Penn or Meyer only pitch one inning and then Amezaga or Gload won't have 2 runners on base if they PH for the pitcher...if Carroll even stays in for defense.  Wrong move by Fredi.

2:20

Good to see Hermida's move to left field helped his defense...

2:24

Good to see Hermida's move to....you know the drill.  Hermida is doing his best to ruin this game with his play in left field.

2:27

This home plate umpire is doing his best to force Selig to use robots to call balls and strikes.  He was erratic with the strike zone for both pitchers today.

2:33

This is not the same bullpen that pitched on the road trip.  Maybe the Marlins will be relieved to hit the road again.  This home stand was certainly a disaster for them.  All those comebacks against the Nationals certainly evened out the last few nights against the Phillies.  Despite this score today, we all know that the Marlins are much better than this, by far.  Just a tough day for them.  The Marlins will still be in first place after this game.  But this isn't a good feeling.

2:47

Flipped on the Mets game between innings, and they are losing 8-1 to Washington.  Good to see Oliver Perez getting paid a good sum on money to pitch poorly.  And again, I thought everyone said it so easy to beat the Nationals?  This is the last time I am going to hammer this point, but neither the Mets or Phillies swept the Nats (if the 8-1 score holds anyway).  A sweep is a sweep.  The Phillies will tell you that, as they are about to polish this one off against the Fish.

3:06

ZZZZZZZZZZZ.........

3:17

Cody Ross is pitching the ninth.  I always wanted to see Amezaga pitch, because he will have then played 8 positions for the Marlins.  But Ross is going in for the ninth, and yes, he throws left and bats right.  That's about all I have in common with any major leaguer.  I just hope that Cody doesn't injure himself.  This is where my blog will end for today.  Good job by the Phillies sweeping today, but the Marlins' pen handed them the game the last few nights.  On to New York, where Marlins Musings will visit Citi Field!  Just don't get hurt Cody.  Don't get hurt.

Marlins Musings LIVE(ish) Pregame

Since today is the first Marlins game that yours truly will be able to watch since the Fish left Pittsburgh, I have so much pent-up energy and enthusiasm about baseball  that I have decided to share with you my thoughts, rants, ramblings and such during today's game.

While the Marlins are still 2 games in first place, they (obviously) need to start winning some games.  It is bad enough that they have let their lead in the NL East shrink by 3 games in the last 6 days, but that's what a 5 game skid will do.  The last two nights have not been kind to the Fish, as you all know, and they need to STOP relying on the long ball.  If I am not mistaken, the Marlins have failed to score a run in this series without the benefit of jacking one over the fence.  That was the main problem that plagued this lineup last year.  Now I know that Bonifacio hasn't really been on base and he was picked off of first base once on Friday, but if the Marlins can't score runs the conventional way with their 2-8 hitters, they are going to have a tough time winning.  Put the ball in play guys, string a few hits together, watch your .OPS or whatever they call it go down...and watch your wins go up. 

For all those people Friday (and I'm sure there were a lot of them) clamoring for Fredi to leave Nunez in to close, or calling for Lindstrom's head and wanting Nunez to be the closer after Friday night's disaster...well I give you Saturday night.  Closing the big leagues isn't as easy as it looks now is it?  If Lindstrom couldn't go, I would have rather seen Calero pitch the ninth inning, but that is neither here nor there.  It's easy to say reliever 'X' should have been in the game when the regular closer is giving up grand slams and walking the park, but it isn't that simple.  If it was, managing in the Majors would be a whole lot easier.  Matt Lindstrom is the closer on this team, and like him or not, we are going to have to deal with it.  If he is still blowing leads in late May, let's revisit the issue.  Until then I will give him all the support I can.

A few notes on today's game:

Whoever called for this heat-wave that is sweeping through New Jersey, I want their head on a silver platter.  I am NOT ready for the 90 degree weather yet, not that I ever really am.  I feel like my skin is going to blister/melt away.

Today's pitching matchup:

Jamie Moyer: 11-1 in his 55 year career against the Marlins.  Bleh, I don't really want to talk about the Phillies anymore.

Graham Taylor: First Major League start.  Taylor's numbers in the minor leagues:

In 3+ years in the minor leagues the lefty sports a record of 28-16 with a 3.04 ERA.  In 404 IP he has allowed 386 hits while walking just 60 with 296 SO. (minor leagues or not, that's a VERY impressive IP/BB ratio, but an unimpressive K rate).  He has allowed just 29 home runs in that span.

Well, he will certainly be challenged right off the bat.  I just hope he doesn't get scared to pitch to contact against the Phillies.  I would imagine that they will wait him out for the most part and make Taylor throw strikes. 

What a way to make a debut!  "OK kid, here's your big chance to showcase what you've got.  Just help us end our 5 game losing skid against the defending World Series champs who can throw a 5-spot up on you in the blink of any eye.  Go get em!"

At least the Marlins have Burke Badenhop and Hayden Penn available for long relief if things go south quickly.  I hope Fredi will have a short leash with Taylor.  The Marlins have two long men available and need to win today.

In other news, to clear a roster spot for Taylor, Logan Kensing was designated for assignment after taking the loss in last night's game.  Farewell Logan!  I will miss the "Misadventure's of Logan and JJ" segments!  Your pitching performances...not as much,  But I'm sure Kensing will land a job somewhere else.  He has enough talent to stick around.  Perhaps the Nationals might sign him?  Or even the Yankees?  They need bullpen help and Girardi managed Kensing in 2006.  We shall see.

We will return around the first pitch, scheduled for 12:10.  That is, if i don't have a heat stroke by then.  79 degrees at 9:55 am?!  C'mon!  This isn't July!

Are you S***ting me?

This will be a quick post, both since it is so late at night it might as well be early morning and I didn't get a chance to catch any of the game last night.

Thank God for that

My thoughts on Matt Lindstrom can be found here on a post I did last year.

7 runs in 2/3 of an inning Lindstrom?!  Really? Really? Really?

I will say this: His performance on Friday was a total aberration as in his total career of 130+ IP in the majors, he only had only allowed 3 home runs (one of the lowest IP/HR ratios in the entire league), so we should not expect Matt to serve up a long ball again anytime in the near future.  I guess you could say he was overdue to give a few up, and obviously he was absolutely terrible and cost his team a win on a night when it seemed that JJ was untouchable and Uggla busted out of his slump.

In some positive news though, I recently obtained tickets to Tuesday's game at Citi Field!  However, I found out today that there are some 'obstructed view' seats in the section I will be sitting in.  I planned to do a post about how the Mets front office strategically planned the stadium to have such seats on purpose so the fans won't have to watch all of the Mets choke in person, and the less they see the less angry they will be...but it just doesn't seem right to write such a thing on a night when the Phillies came back from the dead to beat the Marlins...so I will save it for another night.

Well, I am off to sleep before the rooster crows.  I won't be able to catch Saturday's game either, and if the Marlins don't beat Chan Ho Park, I will be VERY upset.  Especially with Mr. Marlin Killer Moyer pitching on Sunday against the always formidable TBA.

Seven runs in the ninth.....there won't be many happy dreams in Marlins Musings world tonight.  Just win tomorrow guys, and all (or at least some) will be forgiven.

All-Star Votes and Sweeps

The season is a whole 14 games old and you, yes you can vote for this year's All-Star team!  Got a player on your team hitting over around .400 right now?  (and who doesn't?)  Well vote him in!  Got a #1 starter who is off to a rough start (Nolasco, Sabathia, Lincecum, Oswalt, Hamels) well, you can replace him on the All-Star team with someone who is off to a better one like Ross Ohlendorf, Livan Hernandez or Kevin Millwood!  All it takes is your vote.

The All-Star game itself is a joke, and the voting process is even worse.  A player's average can climb or fall 50 points in one game right now--All it takes is a 5-5 or 0-5 at the plate--and we are supposed to determine who is the best of the best right now?  Jeez, we are TWO WEEKS into the season people!  I really don't feel like posting my thoughts on this again, as I did a similar post on this very subject last year, and even though I was pleased that Hanely did get the starting nod, the system is still very flawed.

As far as the action on the diamond goes...I think that this is possibly the best I have ever felt after the Marlins have gotten swept.  The Pirates pitched better, hit better, and sure as heck ran and fielded better than the Marlins over these last three days en route to their 3 game sweep of the Fish.  However, the Marlins still went 6-3 on the road trip...the same record they would have if they had taken two of three in each series.  The Marlins were going to get swept at some point this year, and will again before the season ends, there is no reason at all to be alarmed.  The bottom line is they will return home with an 11-4 record.

Some quick notes:

Bonifacio and Maybin seem to be showing signs of climbing out of their slumps.  Bonifacio had hits in every game of the series against the Pirates, and Maybin, while still striking out, walked and is making better contact.

Uggla really is hitting the hardest 0-20 you will ever see.  I can't count the number of screaming liners that have been caught.  I saw Hideki Matsui get a bloop hit that was just between two guys gloves earlier today, and I felt so bad for Uggla because he just can't catch a break like that right now.  Hopefully two days of Brett Myers and Chan Ho Park will end this streak.

Our bullpen tore it up on the road trip!

Our starters stunk it up on the road trip!  (You won't in-depth analysis like that anywhere else)  But I have an extreme amount of confidence they will bounce back.

Man, can the Pirates field!  Everything hit even remotely near them is going to be turned into an out.  They may be the most complete defensive team in the entire National League.

Well, an off day tomorrow and then 3 against the Phillies over the weekend as the Marlins will look to put some more space between themselves and the World Champs.  After that is another tough road trip into Ebbets, errr, Citi Field and Wrigley.

P.S.  It is GREAT to see Oliver Perez and John Maine get lit up on back-to-back nights!

In addition to all that, here are my "Friday Pick 'Em Challenge" picks, a weekly contest on the "Mc" Effect, a blog by a Pirate's fan (who is also Irish we presume?).  This is week 3, and I currently hold a winning % of .590 through the first two.  While that isn't good enough for first place, it is certainly a better record than the Mets, Phillies and Braves can boast!  Here are my winners for this week.  BRING IT ON!

Indians

Orioles

Reds

Red Sox

Marlins

Mets

Brewers

Royals

Blue Jays

Cardinals

Dodgers

Giants

Pirates

Mariners

Rays

Miller Nite Hangover

We here at Marlins Musings apologize if we are a little groggy, nauseous, cranky, dizzy, and dead to the world today.  See, we are suffering from a 'Miller Nite' hangover.  Watching Andrew do his thing for about 2 hours is far worse than pumping shots of bourbon or downing 'Miller Lite' all night long.

Andrew was his usual self last night, uncorking wild pitches (2 if you are scoring at home) walking batters (4) and allowing hits (5).  The Fish were actually fortunate that he held the Pirates to only 4 runs in his time on the mound.  There must have have been at least one pitch in every at-bat that missed the strike zone by a good foot and a half...I'm not joking.  Oh, and as much as you make it seem like it, this isn't softball Miller!  Runners can and will steal bases if you don't pay any attention to them!  Watching the Buco's swipe 3 bags off the Marlin's lefty unearthed the memories of teams running on Miller last year as well.  It just seems that when he puts runners on base he focuses....well, I can't even say he focuses on the batters because he doesn't really throw strikes to those either...he just loses all concentration on what he is doing and has no clue about what is going on around him.

Blah!

The only real chance the Marlins had against Ohlendorf was in the first inning, when Uggla hit an absolute smash right to the left-fielder with runners on 2nd and 3rd with two outs.  After that, Uhlendorf settled down and the Marlins didn't threaten again.  Gotta give it up to him, he was great last night, as was the Pirates lineup.  They certainly can hit and have some speed as well.

One thing is for sure, the Pirates will have a tough time running on Sanchez tonight.  Anibal has a very good move to first for a righty.  Hopefully he will pitch like he has so far (1.64 ERA) and the other former Yankee farmhand Jeff Karstens will continue to pitch like he has (6.75 ERA) and we will have a rubber game Wednesday afternoon.

I guess it is worth mentioning that the Marlins placed Miller on the DL after the game with a bruised ego....er....an oblique strain.  Take your time getting back Miller.  I know these things can a while to heal and if you have to sit out until Thanksgiving, that's OK.  Don't rush back.  We certainly wouldn't want you to hurt yourself again.  Seriously, I hear that oblique strains can take 6 months to heal...no rush.  Oh, what's that?  You'll be back in 2 weeks?!  Oh.....

We have to run, the hangover is kicking in again....

And the winner is....

This week's 'Jeff Conine Award' goes to not one player, but to the entire bullpen.  Not only did they pick up 4 wins on the current road trip, but they also held the opposition off the board all week until yesterday, setting a team record with 24 scoreless innings pitched .  Here are their performances:

Tues night:

Leo Nunez: 1IP, 1H, 0BB, 2K

Matt Lindstorm: 1 Perfect IP

Wed night:

Hayden Penn inherited 2 runners with 2 outs in the 5th in relief of Miller.  Neither scored as Penn pitched 1.1 Perfect innings with 1K en route to his first win since 2005

Dan Meyer pitched 1.1 perfect innings with 1K as well

Kiko Calero finished the 8th inning, allowing 1H and 1BB but struck out 2

Renyel Pinto pitched a scoreless 9th, yeilding 1H

Thursday:

Kiko Calero and Dan Meyer combined to pitch a Perfect 7th

Leo Nunez pitched a Perfect 8th with 2K

Matt Lindstrom pitched a scoreless ninth, yielding 1H

Friday;

Penn pitched 2 more scoreless innings, giving up just 2H

Pinto worked around 1H and 1BB in the 7th, with 1K

Logan Kensing had 2K in the 8th, giving up just 1H

Leo Nunez pitched a Perfect 9th with 1K to earn his first Win as a Marlin

Matt Lindstrom walked 1, but struck out 2 in the 10th for his second Save

Saturday:

Kensing worked around a walk in the 7th and struck out the side

Pinto gave up 1H and 1BB in the eigth, but held the Nats off the board

Dan Meyer pitched 1.2 innings, walking 1 and striking out 2

Kiko Calero stranded a runner and got the last out of the 10th, then pitched a Perfect 11th, striking out 1 in the process, to get his first win as Marlin

Sunday:

Penn allowed a runner he inherited at third from Volstad to score by giving up a hit, but stranded the other one and recorded the last 2 outs of the 5th inning despite walking Daniel Cabrera (0-his-carrer)

Pinto worked around another BB and H in the 6th, striking out 1

Calero pitched another Perfect 7th inning

Leo Nunez ended the scoreless streak allowing 1 run on 2BB and 1H in the 8th, but was the beneficiary of another comeback and earned his 2nd Win of the year

Lindstrom pitched a perfect ninth with 1K to nail down his 3rd Save.

So add it all up, and you have: 25IP, 13H, 9BB, 22K, and an ERA of 0.36!  That is certainly worthy of this week's 'Jeff Conine Award', seen somewhere on down this page on the left.

Also, thanks to GameFish for letting me know that the Marlins team record for consecutive wins is 9, not 8.  History never was my strong point.

National(s) Disaster

This is really starting to get ridiculous.

The Marlins polished off another sweep--their third one already of the young season--Sunday afternoon by defeating the Nationals 7-4.  More impressive however, is how they have been able to win.  Each game they were losing in the ninth inning, and didn't receive one quality start from any of their pitchers.  But thanks to some late-inning heroics from the corner outfielders, meltdowns from the entire Nationals bullpen, and some lights-out, lockdown performances from their own bullpen, the Marlins have managed to turn what should have been three losses into three victories.  The Fish just keep on rolling right now, and nothing can stop them.

Last week, it was the top of the order and the dominant starters that carried the Marlins.  During their seven game winning streak, it has been the bottom of the order, pinch hitters (thank you, Ross Gload and Wes Helms) and an unhittable bullpen that have enabled the Marlins to come back from the early deficits that the starters have put the team in.  During the current 6-0 road trip the Marlins bullpen has pitched 25 innings and allowed just 1 run to score.  Hayden Penn did allow a runner he inherited at third from Volstad to score today, and he did walk a pitcher who was 0-for-his-career, but induced a grounder to get out of a bases loaded jam in the 5th inning.  Even the one run that Nunez let cross the plate wouldn't have scored if Uggla had made a clean throw on a double-play attempt.  Other than those two hiccups today, the Marlins bullpen (which I did tab as a weak spot on the team....oops!) has been phenomenal.  If they would have allowed even one extra run this weekend, odds are the Nationals would have been able to claim at least one victory in the series.  Great, great, great job by them slamming the door shut!

On the flip side, the Washington Nationals must be thinking "What the hell do we have to do to beat this team?"  For their own safety Joel Hanrahan and Saul Rivera, who accounted for all three of the blown saves, should not be seen out in public in the D.C. area...not without a police escort anyway.  In fact, I wouldn't blame those guys if they changed their names and got a face lift or two.  I can't even imagine what a Nationals fan must be feeling right now.  But enough of that...sorry Nats, nothing personal, I really hope you guys win a few games...mainly those against the Phillies, Mets, and Braves.

Which leads me to my next point.  The Marlins are 11-1 (11-1!) and hold a five (FIVE!) game lead in the NL East right now.  I can hear all the detractors saying "oh well, yea look six wins are against the Nats.  c'mon, it won't last"  And I would say to them: "Hey, you little @&*, go ^#&$...."  OK, so I would just think that.  What my counter argument would be is: "Didn't the Phillies play the Nationals too?  So...since it's so easy to sweep the Nats, in your mind, should we not consider the Phils real contenders because they only won two of three from Washington?  The Yankees lost 2 to the Orioles to start the year, the Mets lost 2 to the Padres, each considered 'weak' teams, so do we not take them seriously?"  etc...

I think you get the point.

Look, I get that the Nationals aren't the 1999 Yankees, but the Marlins have still managed to beat them six times.  They could have just as easily won each series 2-1, and currently hold a 9-3 record.  But they swept them twice, and I think they deserve credit for doing such.  It's not that easy to sweep a team, especially on the road.  Let's not forget that the Braves were 5-1 at the beginning of the week and the Fish swept them too...in Turner Field...something they had never done before.  If the Marlins had lost tough games to the Red Sox and Phillies, would they be getting credit for hanging tough with strong teams?  Of course not.  Beating up the weak teams is something that good teams do.   And you could point to the schedule and say that the Marlins have played teams that are all .500 or below...but since there have only been 12 games so far and the Marlins have won 11 of them...one reason those teams have so many losses is because the Marlins have beaten them.  I have yet to see them be featured on SportsCenter (some mornings there weren't even highlights of their games).  Baseball Tonight and the MLB network have been pretty fair so far, but imagine if the Yankees were 11-1 and had 3 straight come-back wins in the ninth inning!  The national media would be gushing over them and talking about them ad nauseum. (as if they don't already)  I mean really, there was more talk about the fact that a $200 million team got spanked in its home park one night, and about Jeter's game-winning popup to right field that cleared the fence on Friday (that right field in Yankee Stadium is an absolute joke to baseball, but more on that in another blog) than there was about a $30 million team off to their best start in franchise history.

Such is the life of the Fish.  Always swimming under the sonar.  But stop and take a look around Marlins fans.  Take in and relish what this team is doing; this historic start; these unreal comebacks.  Once this run ends we may not see another one like it in a long time, so enjoy every pitch of it.

The road trip continues in Pittsburgh on Monday.  Andrew Miller will make his second start of the year (and he didn't fare too well in his first one) against the former Yankees farmhand Ross Ohlendorf.  I honestly had no clue that Ohlendorf was a starter for the Pirates as every time I saw him as a Yankee he was coming out the bullpen.  I have a friend, and a fellow Yankee-hater, who used to text me "What the hell is an Ulmen Dwarf?  Is he from the Lord of the Rings or something?"  every time he was announced into a game.  I'm sure Ross is a swell guy and has some real talent, but sadly I don't know anything about him other than his name...and every time I hear it all I can think about are those text-messages.  Sad but true.

The Marlins go for an-I-believe-so-but-don't-quote-me-on-it franchise best tying eight game winning streak tomorrow.  Eventually they will suffer their second loss of the year...maybe.  Go Fish.